If your child has a specific medical problem let us know so that we are aware of their needs and we can draw up a healthcare plan. If you are at all concerned about your child’s health and welfare please tell the Headteacher or Inclusion Manager.
We are able to administer prescription medicines that need to be taken during the school day only with written authorisation from you. The medicine must be in its original container and brought to the school office if you want your child to receive it whilst in school.
We oversee the self-administration of asthma inhalers by pupils. You will be asked to provide written details of their asthma triggers and dosage. All inhalers and spacers should be clearly labelled with the child’s name and brought to the school office.
We also have procedures in place for children with epilepsy, diabetes or at risk from anaphylactic shock.
If your child has an accident in school they will be attended to by one of our trained First Aiders. We do not apply ointments or lotions in case of allergy or reaction. All accidents are investigated and recorded. We always try to notify parents if an accident has occurred either personally or by a note, particularly if there has been a bump to the head or the face.
Unfortunately, more serious accidents sometimes occur in school and in that event it is vital that we get in contact with a parent or guardian as quickly as possible so that the child may be taken to hospital. Please make sure that we have a telephone number where you may be contacted, and at least two emergency contact numbers. Our records must always be kept up to date, so please keep us informed of any changes, however temporary.
If your child is ill at school we will contact you or the emergency person for them to be taken home. We will always send a child home if they have vomited, have an upset stomach or if they have an abnormal temperature. If we discover a child has headlice in school, we will ask that you take your child home to enable you to administer the appropriate treatment.
Parents have a legal responsibility to ensure their child is in school every day and arrives on time.
We are passionate in our belief that children should arrive on time every day to start school in a calm and settled manner. Lateness is unsettling for your child and disruptive for the class. The children must be brought directly to the office by an adult to give the reason for lateness, get a registration mark and be marked in for a dinner.
Prompt collection of your child after school is vital. If you are delayed by an emergency, you must telephone the school so that we can reassure your child. Children in Years 5 and 6 may come to school and leave without being accompanied, if you so wish, but the school must be informed of this arrangement in writing. If you make arrangements for someone else to collect your child, you should let her/his teacher know. Younger children should not be brought to school by their older siblings and will not be allowed to go home alone with them. If a child needs to go home during the school day they must be collected by an adult, regardless of year group.
If a child is absent, please inform the school by email on the first day of absence by 9.30 am with a reason for absence. The school may seek clarification of the absence. We consider absences to be authorised if your child is sick, however, absences for reasons such as birthdays or shopping trips will be recorded as unauthorised. If your child has a medical appointment, please provide the school with a copy of the appointment card/letter for our records.
The school keeps a record of absences and these are included in your child’s report. Unauthorised absence and persistent lateness is reported to the Local Authority’s Attendance and Welfare Officer. If your child has an infectious disease, please let us know as soon as it has been confirmed. Some diseases are notifiable and we must report them to the Health Protection Agency. We will also inform other parents so that they can check for symptoms. After a stomach upset or vomiting, children should be kept at home for 48 hours to avoid a recurrence at school and possibly infecting other children. Likewise, if your child has a raised temperature, they should be kept at home. If you discover your child has headlice, please keep them at home until you have treated them. The school should be notified so that we may inform other parents.
Parents are not permitted to arrange holidays during term time, as it disrupts your child’s learning. Children attend school for only 190 days a year and the rest of the year is available for holidays. In exceptional circumstances the headteacher may authorise a limited absence for attendance at funerals and the like. If a child is absent for more than 10 days without authorisation the child will be reported to the authorities as being 'missing in education' and the child’s name may be removed from the register and their place offered to another child.
To request permission to take a child out of school during term time please download the Request to Withdraw a Child from Learning Form (see below), complete the relevant sections and hand it in to the school office or send it to the school.
Click here to download the Request Form (pdf)
We offer a breakfast club in the mornings from 7.30am. It is supervised by school staff in the school hall (entrance direct from Champion Crescent) and provides quality child care before school. The cost is £20 per week (£12.50 for Free School Meals eligible children) regardless of how many days your child attends. If you are interested and wish to place your child’s name on the waiting list, please contact the office. Payment for the Breakfast Club must be made online via ParentPay. We can also accept Childcare vouchers or payments via the Tax-Free Childcare scheme.
We also offer an after school provision on site, run by the school staff. It provides childcare from after school till 6pm. The cost is £11 per day, or £50 for a full week. The 'ad hoc'/one-off price is £11 per day. There is a reduced rate for families eligible for Free School Meals and also to those registered with our Breakfast Club. These fees are £6 per day or £25 for a full week. Payment must be made via ParentPay. We can also accept Childcare vouchers or payments via the Tax-Free Childcare scheme.
Click here to see e-brochure about Wrap Around Care (pdf)
If you receive certain welfare benefits, you can apply for free school meals for your child. This means that you could save over £520 a year and your child will get a healthy school lunch every day! Whilst children in reception, year 1 and year 2 already get a free school meal, you should still apply (if your receive certain benefits) because the school will get additional funding to help with staffing and resources to improve the quality of your child's education.
You can apply online by following this link to the relevant page on the Lewisham Council website.
St Michael’s Church of England School’s vision is to enable every child to flourish in their potential as a child of God. The school places Christian values at its heart and believes that it can best deliver a successful education and achieve its stated aims by maintaining an effective partnership between school, church, parents and pupils. The school has therefore developed a home-school agreement, which sets out the 'terms ' of this partnership to help enable each child take full advantage of all that the school has to offer
The Governors have agreed that all parents and carers with a child/children at this school should be asked to sign the agreement to signify that they understand and accept the partnership.
Click here to download the Home School Agreement.
School dinners must be booked and paid for on a week-by-week basis - day by day changes are not permitted as it makes it difficult for the kitchen staff to order the right quantities. The Mayor of London continues to subsidise free school meals for all Key Stage 2 primary school children, which will continue until the end of the academic Year 2025.
Nursery lunches are not covered by the subsidy and therefore MUST be paid for in advance via ParentPay; School is not permitted to give credit. You may pay for meals weekly, monthly or termly online using ParentPay (see link below). Dinners cost £13.75 per week (i.e. £2.75 per day). Should your child be away after you have paid for the dinners, you will automatically receive a credit for another day. If your child requires a special diet e.g. vegetarian, or allergy related, please let the office know via email to schoolmail@stmichaels.lewisham.sch.uk All children in Reception and Key Stage One (Year 1 and Year 2) are entitled to a (Government funded) free school meal.
Children who bring packed lunches should bring them in packed lunch boxes clearly labelled with the child's name and class. Parents are advised that we do not have cool storage areas in the school and so packed lunches must only contain items which can be stored at room temperature or even above. There are some children in the school who have potentially life threatening allergies. It is therefore crucial that packed lunches do not contain nuts or nut products, particularly peanuts, peanut butter or muesli bars and in line with our no sweets and chocolate policy we ask that the children have no chocolate, chocolate biscuits, sweets or sugary drinks. Please see our packed lunch rules below.
Children in the infants will be provided with a piece of fruit each day for the playtime break in the morning. Children in the juniors may bring in their own fruit for the playtime break in the morning. This should be placed in a plastic bag or container clearly labelled with the child’s name. (In order to protect the health and safety of children in school with serious food allergies, it will not be possible for children to bring in any other types of snacks.)
We are proud of our 'healthy school' approach and therefore we don’t allow chocolate or sweets in school. Please do not send party packs or birthday cakes and treats to school on your child’s birthday - it does not advocate healthy eating and there are potential allergy risks.
The current menu can be viewed by clicking here (opens in a new window)
St Michael's is participating in Operation Encompass, a project between the Metropolitan Police Service and schools to provide timely (next day) support to children who have witnessed, been exposed to or involved in a domestic violence incident. We know that children can be significantly physically or emotionally harmed in such circumstances and this is way of allowing trained staff to help the children as soon as possible.
Further information about the scheme can be viewed here
A copy of the letter introducing the scheme (January 2019) can be viewed here
At St Michael’s we start the year by inviting parents to an Information Workshop. This is an opportunity for parents to see their child’s for the year and give a brief overview of the learning that will be happening in class
To provide parents and carers with the opportunity of a formal meeting with their child’s teacher, they are invited to attend Parent’s Evening during the Autumn and Spring Terms.During these meetings, parents are able to view their child’s books and discuss with the teacher the child’s attainment and progress as well as the child’s targets going forward. At the end of the Summer Term, detailed reports written by the class teacher are sent home and parents are invited to meet with the teacher if they wish to discuss the written report.
More informally, a ‘Commitment to Learning’ report is completed for every child at the end of the Autumn and Spring Terms. This report seeks to recognise and celebrate the efforts made by each child towards their learning, such as showing interest and enthusiasm and responding to feedback in a resilient manner.
To provide parents with a true insight into school life, parents are normally invited to a number of events held throughout the academic year (because of Coronavirus prevention measures, these may be suspended temporarily):
At St Michael's we are particularly proud of our children delivering high quality performances and parents are always warmly invited to our Christmas Performance, Summer Performance and Year 6 Final Performance.
St Michael's recognises the vital role parents play in their child's education and we hope that parents, pupils and teachers will work in partnership to promote positive learning within and beyond the school gate. There are many ways in which parents and carers can support the work of the school. Most importantly, parents really help us when they support their child in coming to school on time and ready to learn each day.
There are always lots of learning that can take place at home to help children - reading to them, hearing them read, discussing books, taking them to the local library, helping them to learn their spellings and times tables, supporting them to understand money and change, teaching them to tell the time, playing educational games such as Scrabble and, most importantly, taking them on trips around London (and beyond) to gain knowledge and understanding of the world around them.
Visits and visitors are seen as a vital stimulation for children's interest and are closely linked with the curriculum. Each year group goes on at least one trip per term; some times local, sometimes further afield - into central London or out into the countryside. However, for this to happen, we do rely on parent volunteers to accompany the children and we are always very appreciative of the parent who can volunteer their time. Therefore, if you have the capacity to support us in this manner, please let the class teacher or office know.
We welcome parents to volunteer to read with the children in school but we ask that they commit themselves to a regular time slot so that we can plan for and rely on their attendance. Any parents interested should please contact the office. All adults who regularly work in school are subject to full police and Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, which the school will organise.
The school uses ParentPay to collect online payments for a range of services including, dinner money, breakfast club, after-school clubs, trips and the Governors’ Fund – follow the link above or click on the banner below :
Ofsted provides an opportunity for parents to submit their views about a school online over twelve different aspects. Click here to go to the parent view Ofsted website
The typical school week therefore provides 32.5 hours of schooling for infants and 32 hours 55 minutes for Key Stage 2 children
Registers are taken at the start of the morning and afternoon sessions
*Our assemblies are a very valuable part of our school day and an opportunity to promote our shared values. It includes an act of collective worship as required by law and in accordance with our Christian ethos. Wednesday worship is led by the Vicar of St Michael’s Church and starts at 10.00am.
The school takes a great pride in its school uniform and PE kit and all children are expected to wear it. Staff and Governors ask for parents’ co-operation in carrying out the school uniform policy. All clothing and other items (e.g. bags, lunchboxes, etc.) must be clearly labelled with the child’s name.
Items of uniform specific to St Michael’s (i.e. jumpers, ties,
school backpacks, PE tracksuits and T-shirts) can be purchased from
our uniform provider: Wearabouts Schoolwear at 99 Sydenham Road,
Sydenham (telephone 020 8659
9917).
Click here to see where it is (map)
School PE tracksuits and PE kit can be worn (all day) by children on days when they have PE.
The uniform requirements can be seen by clicking here (pdf)
Second-hand uniform is often available (although choice of sizes and quantity may be limited) - please enquire at the school office.
The school is organised into four different houses. When your child enters the school, they will be placed in a house. Our houses are named after people who were of significant interest in 1871, the year our school was founded.
Named after the American, brother pioneer aviators Orville and Wilbur Wright, Orville Wright being born in 1871. The brothers are credited with inventing and building the World’s first successful aeroplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight in December 1903.
Named after the nurse, Florence Nightingale, who did such pioneering work with wounded soldiers in the Crimean War and the Franco-Prussian war, which ended in 1871.
Named after the famous Victorian explorer David Livingstone who was found in 1871 by fellow explorer Stanley after having been considered lost and presumed dead in Africa.
Named after Bishop John Coleridge Patteson, a missionary in the Polynesian islands who was killed in 1871 having being mistaken by native islanders as a slave trader. Having realised their mistake, they accorded a traditional island ‘burial’ to Bishop Patteson setting his body in a canoe to return to his ship. The islanders subsequently established a very devout Christian community.
It is always helpful for us to obtain parents’ views regarding our performance at St Michael’s. This enables us to not only be aware of what is working well, but also to reflect about areas where we could improve further. This feedback is crucial in aiding us in our efforts to provide the best possible experience for our children.
I just wanted to send a quick note of thanks to the staff at Saint
Michael's. My son found it difficult going back to school this year.
He finds all change challenging to be honest, but lockdown and Covid
were especially disruptive. To put it kindly, he is a child who
wears his heart on his sleeve and he came home in tears a few times
and said how much he missed his teachers. I know all of us suffered
loss in different ways because of Covid-19 and it is easy to forget
that the children suffered loss just as much as we did, even if they
weren't able to articulate the exact nature of the loss and I guess
my son missed out on some lovely months of playing with his
reception class and enjoying the attachments he made with class
teachers - maybe it would have been a smoother transition to year
one if lockdown hadn't happened.
I am so grateful that Ms Paul was able to check in on him and make
time for him and think about how to support him during his rocky
start. I know that relationship she has skillfully built with him
really buoyed him up and got him through, and it speaks to her
professionalism and judgement that she was able to do that. As
parents we are impressed and grateful and relieved. Today was the
first day last week there were no tears.
Thank you for the texts and the communication. And thank you for all
the little things - keeping the same classroom as last year and
meeting him at the gate. That little bit of care and consistency-
the smiles and eye contact and concern I've seen when he first comes
in- the way everyone makes time and effort really matters and makes
a huge difference. Thank you for responding so sensitively and
kindly, even when I'm sure everyone is stressed and overstretched
and uncertain. We are so very grateful.
At St Michael’s the Governors and staff of St Michael’s encourage
close links with parents and the community because we believe that
children benefit when the relationship between home and school is a
positive one. However, the Governors and staff enforce a rule of
zero tolerance towards disrespectful, abusive, aggressive or
threatening behaviour.
Behaviour that would be deemed inappropriate and disrespectful
includes:
This is not an exhaustive list, but seeks to provide illustrations of such behaviour.
As governors and staff we would like to be very clear about consequences of any of the actions described above: