Contents
- Contact Information
- Induction Programme
- Starting School/School Day
- What your child will need
- School Uniform
- Lunches/Snack
- General Information
Welcome to the Specialist Provision Centre - Orry’s Room
We are very pleased to welcome your child into full-time schooling here at Henry Bloom Noble School. We understand that starting school is a major event in the life of a four year old with lots of new things to learn. We aim to make it a happy and memorable experience! We hope this booklet will provide some useful information that will help both you and your child get prepared and settled into school life quickly.
Contact Information
Address: Henry Bloom Noble School, Westmoreland Road, Douglas, IM1 4AQ
Tel: 01624 675835Email: hbnenquiries@sch.im
Orry’s Room Tel: We have a mobile phone which we use for quick home/school communication or to send you photos or reminders. We will give you this number when your child starts school.
Website: hbn.sch.im
Head Teacher: Mrs R Ashley
Deputy Head Teacher: Miss J McCabe
Specialist Provision Centre Manager: Mrs Hannah Duke
Induction Programme
Taster Sessions
You will receive an email/phone call inviting your child to one morning or afternoon taster session in school. Should you require any further information, please get in touch with the school office. Please come to the Orry’s Room entrance (at the front of the school building) for your taster session and we will take your child into their class. This session is usually for one hour.
Nursery/PSAC Transition
During the final term of the academic year, members of the SPC team will arrange visits to your child’s current preschool setting/s, including the Pre-school Assessment Centre. The SPC Manager will speak to preschool key workers and gather information about your child, prior to them starting school. This allows us to prepare for your child’s arrival, incorporate their interests and ensure a comfortable transition between nursery and school. Key workers from the Pre-School Assessment Centre plan a meeting with the SPC manager prior to their start date to transfer information about your child. In the first week of the new year, key workers from the Pre-School Assessment Centre will also visit the SPC and your child for a final handover of information and to support the settling-in period.
Starting School in September
We appreciate that this is a very important step for you and your child and we endeavour to make the transition to school as easy as possible. Children will begin the first few days of school with a staggered start.
Wednesday 4th September 1.15pm- 3.15pm
Thursday the 5th September 1.15pm-3.15pm
Friday 6th of September 9.15am - 11.15am
From Monday 9th September, all children will begin their first full day. School starts at 8.50am and finishes at 3.20pm normally.
Starting somewhere new can be daunting and unsettling but we endeavour to help the children settle as quickly as possible. If your child is unhappy when you leave, please don’t worry, we will give you a call to let you know how they are settling after a short time in school.
The School Day
Our doors open at 8:50am.
Children must be collected from the SPC by 3:20pm. If children attend Hub, Respite or use the home/school transport, they will be collected and dropped off at the Orry’s entrance too.
Please inform us in advance if an adult who is NOT a named contact is collecting your child from school or there are any changes to your normal collection routine.
If you are unavoidably delayed, please contact the school so that we are aware and can support your child.
What will my child need?
Lunches/Snack
School Dinners
There are two lunch options each day that the children can choose from, including a vegetarian option. Further information about school dinners and a copy of the latest menu can be found on our website. We ask that parents sign up to Parent Pay which allows for easy payments online.
Packed Lunch
If you would prefer your child to bring a packed lunch it should be in a securely fastened container and clearly labelled with your child’s name. We are strictly a nut free school.
If you wish for your child to change from packed lunches to school dinners or vice versa, the school office should be notified and funds placed on your ParentPay account.
Snack
Pupils take part in a daily social snack. For this, we offer toast, crackers & butter, cheese, breadsticks and fruit. We also offer a biscuit or crisps in the afternoon. We also do taster plates to give pupils exposure to different foods.
Pupils also take part in weekly life skills cookery, daily sensory play activities and weekly life skills trips.
In order to give pupils these opportunities we kindly ask parents to contribute £10 per term to help cover the cost of social snack, life skills cookery, sensory play and life skills activities/trips.
General Information
Enrolment forms
Enrolment forms must be completed and returned to our administrator, Mrs Walmsley. You will also need to provide a utility bill and your Child’s Birth Certificate to complete their enrolment.
Absences
If your child is ill or has a medical appointment, please notify school as soon as possible by telephone on 01624 675835 or messaging the Orry’s Room school phone.
We do request that if your child is unwell you keep them at home until they are better. Should your child suffer a case of vomiting and/or diarrhoea, they MUST be kept off school for 48 hours after the last occurrence to prevent the spread of infection.
Emergency Contact details
It's extremely important that we can contact you during the day. If your child is ill during the school day, they will need to be collected as soon as possible. Please can you keep school informed with any changes to your contact details.
Medicines & Health Care Plans
All medication to be administered in school, will need to be accompanied by the relevant forms. These can be obtained from our school office or online. If your child requires an inhaler, please ensure there is one available to be kept in school and one to travel to and from school with your child. Both inhalers should be named and in date. If your child requires an epi-pen, our policy states that there must be 2 epi-pens, which are held in school. These also need to be named and in date. You will be required to fill in a Health Care Plan with your medical practitioner should they require any form of regular/emergency medication in school. It is your responsibility to ensure that your child’s medication is in date.
Holidays
Holidays should, where possible, be taken during non-term time. However, if this is unavoidable Mrs Ashley will authorise 10 school days only. Any holiday requests must be put in writing via email to the school office: hbnenquiries@sch.im. Holidays will not be granted retrospectively.
Car Parking
Please observe the parking restrictions in force outside all entrances to school and avoid parking on the pavements, crossing points or blocking any entrance/exit ways. Only parents of Orry’s Room pupils are permitted to park in the Orry’s lay-by so please make use of this.
Parent Partnerships
We recognise the importance of building strong school-parent partnerships. We endeavour to provide regular opportunities for parents to come into school. We offer a half-termly “Coffee, Cake and Catch-up” session, encourage parents to join us for trips and other opportunities throughout the year such as open evenings.
Social Media
We do have a school Facebook page which we use to post reminders about school information and events. Please follow this to keep up to date with daily school events.
Evisense
We use Evisense to display each child’s individual Learning Journey. This is an online Learning platform that is linked only to you and your child. This page is only seen by yourselves and the staff working in the Specialist Provision Centre.
This is where we will record photos and our observations of the children’s learning during their school days. We will use this to celebrate the many “wow moments” that happen in our setting during the day and to assess the children’s level of development across all areas of their learning.
This is a great way for you as parents and carers to have a deeper understanding about what your child has done in school and can spark more meaningful conversations/activities at home when talking to your child about their achievements and celebrating their successes with them.
Once your child has started school you will receive information about how to access this app.
We look forward to welcoming your child to Orry’s Room and HBN School!
You can download a copy of this information here.