Parents/Carers Code of Conduct

Guidance for Parents/Carers of pupils in

Caldecote Community Primary School

Safeguarding is defined as protecting children from maltreatment, preventing impairment of health and/or development, ensuring that children grow up in the provision of safe and effective care and taking action to enable all children to have the best life chances.

Introduction & Purpose

Caldecote Community Primary School are very fortunate to have supportive and friendly parents and carers.  Our parents and carers recognise that educating our pupils is a process that involves partnerships between home and school and understands the importance of a good working relationship to equip children with the necessary skills to enter adulthood successfully. We are a caring school and aim to create a stimulating learning environment in which every individual has the opportunity to be the best they can be and as such, safeguarding our children from any harm, neglect or abusive behaviours and language is of paramount importance. (Appendix 2).  For these reasons, we continue to welcome and encourage our parents and carers to participate fully in the life of our school and the pupils within it.

The purpose of this guidance is to provide a reminder to all parents, carers and visitors to our school about their expected conduct. This is so we can continue to flourish, progress and achieve in an atmosphere of mutual understanding and respect.

Full Guidance

We expect parents, carers and visitors to:

· Respect the ethos, culture and values of our school

· Understand that both teachers and parents need to work together for the benefit of their children

· Demonstrate that all members of the school community should be treated with respect and therefore set a good example in their own speech and behaviour

· Seek to clarify a child’s version of events with the school’s view in order to bring about a peaceful solution to any issue

· Correct own child’s behaviour especially in public where it could otherwise lead to conflict, aggressive behaviour or unsafe behaviour

· Approach the school to help resolve any issues of concern

· Avoid using staff as threats to reprimand children’s behaviour

In order to support a peaceful and safe school environment the school cannot tolerate parents, carers and visitors exhibiting the following:

· Disruptive behaviour which interferes or threatens to interfere with the operation of a classroom, an employee’s office, office area or any other area of the school grounds including car park

· Using loud/or offensive language, swearing, cursing, using profane language or displaying temper

· Threatening to do actual bodily harm to a member of school staff, Governor, visitor, fellow parent/carer or pupil regardless of whether or not the behaviour constitutes a criminal offence

· Damaging or destroying school property

· Abusive or threatening e-mails or text/voicemail/phone messages or other written communication

· Defamatory, offensive or derogatory comments regarding the school or any of the students/parent/staff, at the school on Facebook or other social sites. (Appendix 1)

· The use of physical aggression towards another adult or child

· Approaching someone else’s child in order to discuss or chastise them because of the actions of this child towards their own child. (Such an approach to a child may be seen to be an assault on that child and may have legal consequences)

· Smoking and consumption of alcohol or other drugs whilst on school property

· Dogs being brought on to school premises.

Should any of the above behaviour occur on school premises the school may feel it is necessary to contact the appropriate authorities and if necessary, even ban the offending adult from entering the school grounds.  We trust that parents and carers will assist our school with the implementation of this policy and we thank you for your continuing support of the school.

Appendix 1: Inappropriate use of Social Networking Sites

Social media websites are being used increasingly to fuel campaigns and complaints against schools, Headteachers, school staff, and in some cases other parents/pupils. The Governors considers the use of social media websites being used in this way as unacceptable and not in the best interests of the children or the whole school community. Any concerns you may have must be made through the appropriate channels by speaking to the class teacher, the Headteacher or the Chair of Governors, so they can be dealt with fairly, appropriately and effectively for all concerned.

In the event that any pupil or parent/carer of a pupil(s) being educated in Caldecote Community Primary School is found to be posting libellous or defamatory comments on Facebook or other social network sites, they will be reported to the appropriate 'report abuse' section of the network site being used. All social network sites have clear rules about the content, which can be posted, on the site and they provide robust mechanisms to report contact or activity which breaches this. The school will also expect that any parent/carer or pupil removes such comments immediately. The school expects parents to limit screen time of pupils and engage with them in conversation when collecting them from school.

In serious cases, the school will also consider its legal options to deal with any such misuse of social networks and other sites. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, is the issue of cyber bullying and the use by one child or a parent to publicly humiliate another by inappropriate social network entry.  This also includes cyber bullying through hand held devices and applications such as ‘WhatsApp’. (Both Parents/Carers and their Children). We will take and deal with this as a serious incident of school bullying, and where appropriate, the school will contact the Police for further advice and guidance. Thankfully, such incidents in our school are extremely rare. We would expect that parents would make all persons responsible for collecting children aware of this policy.

Appendix 2: Safeguarding and protecting the welfare of children

Safeguarding and protecting the welfare of children and pupils within our schools is of utmost importance. Our children/pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe, on line and in the real world, to develop positive and healthy relationships and how to avoid situations where they might be at risk including by being exploited.

As such, the school has a legal duty of care to each and every child/pupil under the Children Act 1989 and the Amended Children Act 2004.

Caldecote Community Primary School are very fortunate to have supportive and friendly parents and carers that ensure their children are safe and care for them appropriately.  However, in some rare cases, this isn’t always the case.  Where parents/carers have acted inappropriately towards their children, this includes severe chastisement of their children, the school has a statutory responsibility to share any concerns it might have about a child in need of protection with other agencies and in particular police, health and children’s services.

Schools are not able to investigate concerns but have a legal duty to refer them. In most instances, the school will be able to inform the parents/carer of its need to make a referral. However, sometimes the school is advised by Children’s Social Care or police that the parent/carer cannot be informed whilst they investigate the matter. We understand the anxiety parents/carers understandably feel when they are not told about any concerns from the outset. The school follows legislation that aims to act in the interests of the child and will aim to support children and their families accordingly.

Useful Contacts

Name of Chair of Governors: Mr. William Morris

Name of Head Teacher: Mr. Mathew Alcock

DSLs in School: Mrs. Fran Palmer, Miss Katy Barnes, Mr. Mathew Alcock, Mrs. Yaroslava Briggs, Miss Claire Kane and Miss Kelly Rogers

Family Learning and Parenting Co-ordinator: Miss Claire Kane

Attendance Officer: Miss. Leigh Smith

Website of School: www.caldecote.leicester.sch.uk

Contact Number of School: 0116 2824482

Childrens Social Care –                               0116 454 1004

Police                                                                 0116 222 2222

Caldecote Community Primary School

Parents Code of Conduct

The purpose of this guidance is to provide a reminder to all parents, carers and visitors to our school about their expected conduct. This is so we can continue to flourish, progress and achieve in an atmosphere of mutual understanding and respect.

We expect parents, carers and visitors to:

• Respect the ethos, culture and values of our school

• Understand that both teachers and parents need to work together for the benefit of their children

• Correct own child’s behaviour especially in public where it could otherwise lead to conflict, aggressive behaviour or unsafe behaviour

• Approach the school to help resolve any issues of concern

In order to support a peaceful and safe school environment the school cannot tolerate parents, carers and visitors exhibiting the following:

• Disruptive behaviour which interferes or threatens to interfere with the operation of any area of the school grounds including car park

• Using loud/or offensive language, swearing, cursing, using profane language or displaying temper

• Threatening to do actual bodily harm to a member of school staff, Governor, visitor, fellow parent/carer or pupil

• Damaging or destroying school property

• The use of physical aggression towards another adult or child

• Approaching someone else’s child in order to discuss or chastise them because of the actions of this child towards their own child

• Smoking and consumption of alcohol or other drugs whilst on school property

• Dogs being brought on to school premises.

Should any of the above behaviour occur on school premises the school may feel it is necessary to contact the appropriate authorities and if necessary, even ban the offending adult from entering the school grounds.  We trust that parents and carers will assist our school with the implementation of this code of conduct and we thank you for your continuing support of the school.

**Further information is available in our schools Conduct Guidance for Parents and Carers**