School Routines

Your daughter will need to bring her school bag containing her pencil case for the first day in the Senior School and Junior School.

Junior School Please bring your daughter to the terrace at the back of the School via the side gate to the left of the Junior School entrance. The teaching staff will be on the terrace at 8.30am to collect their classes and take them to their classrooms.

Senior School If your daughter is new to the Senior School, please bring her to the Senior School reception by 8.20am. She will be met by her form buddies and her Head of Year and taken to her form room.

Sixth Form Sixth Form students should come to reception where they will be met by the Head of Sixth Form.

At the end of the day, Junior School students should be collected from the terrace at 4.00pm. New students will wait on the Terrace with their teacher until collected by a parent/guardian. If you have alternative arrangements or your daughter is getting a school bus, please let the School know so we can assist your daughter. Senior School students should leave the site, using the appropriate exit for their year group. Years 7 and 8 should use the middle gates beside Sixth Form House. Years 9-11 use the tennis court exit.

Sixth Formers may choose to use these gates or the exit door opposite the Sixth Form Common Room.

All Junior School students going home by bus are sent to the Randle Hall at approximately 3.30pm on the first day. They are then grouped according to their bus route. Where possible, they will be paired up with a student who already uses the same bus service. They are then accompanied by a member of staff to the bus collection point. These arrangements remain in place until your daughter is confident about the end of the school day routine.

Senior School students will be guided by members of staff who remain on Cardington Road until everyone has been collected and help those students who are catching buses.

In the Junior School, during the first week of term, your daughter will bring home:

• A school planner

In the Senior School, during the first week of term, your daughter will bring home:

• An iPad

• A timetable

Senior School locker padlocks: all new students will be given a padlock, if needed, (some lockers have integrated locking systems) when they arrive in school. If they lose or damage their padlocks, replacements will be supplied and the cost (approximately £6) will be added to the end of term bill.

Students will be informed of the time of their individual Speech and Drama lessons. Timetables for individual Music lessons can be found on the Parent Portal and on the Music notice boards.

08.40 Lesson One

09.45

10.15 Tutor time/Assembly Break

10.40

11.40

11.40

11.45

12.10

12.45

13.20

13.55

14.55

15.00

16.00 Lesson Two

Changeover Junior Lesson Three A

Lesson Three

Junior School Lunch

Senior School Lunch

Junior Lesson Three B

Lesson Four

Changeover Lesson Five

End

In the Junior School, your daughter is expected to arrive by 8.30am, ready for registration in her classroom at 8.40am. Once she arrives, she should make her way to the terrace and play area through the side gate. The gate is open from 8.00am and the areas are supervised by staff from 8.00am until 8.30am when the students enter the classrooms to be ready to start lessons at 8.40am.

On extremely cold or wet mornings, they can go straight to the Randle Hall in the Junior School where they will be supervised until the start of the school day. Your daughter should not go to her classroom unless permission has been given by a member of staff on duty. The side gate will be closed at 8.30am and entry to the Junior School after that time should be via the front entrance. If your daughter arrives after 8.40am, she should go straight to reception to register.

In the Senior School, your daughter is expected to be in School for 8.30am, ready for her first lesson at 8.40am. When she arrives she should go to her locker to hang up her coat and store any equipment or items not needed for morning lessons. She should then go to her form room or to Breakfast Club (Breakfast Club is open from 7.30am to 8.25am). They can visit their lockers to collect books and equipment at morning break and lunchtime only.

All students should be in the right classroom for Lesson One ready to start the class by 8.40am. If your daughter arrives after 8.40am, she must sign in at reception and then go quickly and quietly to Lesson One.

Sixth Form students may, at designated times, leave the School during the day if they have no lessons or other commitments, but they must sign out using the QR code before they leave.

From 7.30am to 8.25am, the Breakfast Club is available for Junior and Senior School students in the Hospitality Suite in the Senior School. Hot chocolate, milk, smoothies, orange juice, cereals, sausage and bacon rolls, pain au chocolat, muffins, flapjacks, toast, homemade yoghurt and fresh cut fruit are available with payment by cash or card. Junior School students who attend Breakfast Club will be escorted to the Junior School at 8.25am. We suggest Junior School families discuss the Breakfast Club arrangements with the Junior School office if you wish to use this service.

Registration takes place at 8.40am at the start of Lesson One. If, for any reason, your daughter arrives at school after 8.40am she must report to reception and sign in before proceeding to Lesson One. If you know in advance that she is likely to be late, please telephone the school office and leave a message stating when you expect her to arrive. (Remember she is expected to arrive promptly for the start of any lesson or activity). Medical and dental appointments should be made outside school hours, unless in an emergency. If your daughter must leave School at any time during the day, please provide a note or email stating exactly why she will be absent and when she will leave and address this to your daughter’s form tutor in advance of her absence. All students must be collected by a parent or chaperone from reception and will be asked to sign out and sign back in at reception.

We aim to teach our students to always be life long learners who are always open to understanding the perspectives of others. One aspect is the development of personal beliefs, including an understanding of a variety of religious and cultural beliefs which reflect the whole of our community. All students in the Senior and the Junior Schools attend assemblies each week which take into account the different religious or non religious backgrounds of our community. The assemblies are reflective and may include a hymn and prayers although staff who lead assemblies have their own style.

During break time, your daughter may bring a snack to eat. In the Senior School, snacks must be eaten in the Dining Hall, the Green Room or outside. Food and drink should not be consumed in classrooms or hallways as they cause litter. Chewing gum should not be eaten in School. We have a nut-free policy and all snacks should be healthy and nut-free.

bring items containing nuts into School. We encourage everyone to drink plenty of water; if this is brought into School, it should be in a suitable reusable plastic bottle.

In the Senior School, a ‘tuck shop’ is open in the Dining Hall. Items on sale include hot homemade filled rolls, snacks, cupcakes and fruit as well as a small choice of confectionery.

School lunches are available every day in the Green Kitchen. We are committed to providing a nutritious menu. Fresh fruit and salad are available; this underlines and reflects our commitment to healthy eating. Students are given the choice between a packed lunch from home or a hot school lunch. The weekly menus can be found on our website. Our Catering Manager

is willing to discuss special dietary requirements. Allergen information on all food is available on the Parent Area and is printed out daily and displayed in the Dining Hall. We will automatically charge you for your daughter to have a hot school lunch. However, should you wish your daughter to bring a packed lunch, please email the school on lunches@bedfordgirlsschool.co.uk to avoid incurring the school lunch charge. Your email will be acknowledged by the Accounts Department. Please note that at least half a term’s notice is required for any change in your daughter’s lunch arrangements to take effect from the beginning of each term. Requests to change to packed lunch should be sent by email to lunches@bedfordgirlsschool.co.uk The termly cost for school meals is added to the tuition fee account sent to you at the beginning of each term. The daily charge for lunch will be £4.40. In the Senior School lunch passes will be handed out at the start of term. If your daughter forgets her lunch pass, she will be able to arrange to have a temporary card. Students who usually bring a packed lunch will be able to have a school meal if they forget to bring their food; the cost will be added to their end of term school fees. Sixth Form students may eat in Chequers, the Sixth Form café, or they may opt to have school lunches in the Dining Hall. Sixth Form students are allowed out of school during lunch after signing out.

The school day finishes at 4.00pm. If your daughter is not being collected from the Terrace at 4.00pm or catching one of the school buses, she should go to the Late Room which meets on the Terrace, at the end of the school day. The Junior School Late Room is available every day from 4.00pm until 6.00pm and is supervised by three members of staff. Once your daughter has registered her attendance, she has a short break outside, weather permitting, before coming in to the Junior School Library. They can complete their homework and then relax. Should your daughter still be in the Late Room after 6pm she will be escorted to the Senior School After School Study Room (in the LRC) where she can wait until 7pm.

It is not necessary to pre-book this facility; your daughter should inform her class teacher during morning registration whether she will be attending the Late Room. It is always helpful if a message confirming your daughter’s attendance is written in your daughter’s diary/planner. You may of course contact the School during the school day to inform the Junior School office that your daughter is to attend the Late Room and the message will be relayed to her and her class teacher. The Junior School Late Room mobile is 07721938105 should you have any last minute queries or concerns.

In the Senior School, your daughter will not have free access to the School buildings, with the exception of the Learning Resources Centre (LRC), after 4.00pm when School finishes. Unless she is involved in supervised activities, she should collect her belongings by 4.10pm, go to the cloakroom and leave the premises quickly.

If she is going to the After School Study Room she must collect all that she needs from her locker at 4.00pm and then go straight to the LRC.

All students waiting for school buses should wait in the supervised bus shelter at the edge of the astro pitches.

The After School Study Room (in the LRC) will be supervised from 4.10pm onwards. All students attending the After School Study Room are expected to have signed into the LRC by 4.15pm. It is expected that all students are collected from the After School Study Room by 7.00pm at the latest. If you need to make contact with the member of staff on duty, please call the main School number until 5pm, after which please call the late care mobile number 07810 857859. If you should need to ring after this time please, call the Senior Leadership Team emergency mobile 07432 674386.

Students, who intend to use the After Care Study Room, should not go off the site between the end of the day and going into late care, unless authorised by a member of staff. Students can attend after school co-curricular activities and then go to late care.

A healthy, nut free snack can be taken to eat in the After School Study Room.

There is no charge for your daughter to attend the After School Study Room.

The school offices in the Junior and Senior Schools are open from 8.00am-5.00pm each day. An answerphone machine will take messages outside these hours and they will be dealt with promptly. If you need to get a message to your daughter, please be aware that her mobile phone will be switched off during lessons and activities. You may prefer to contact her via the school office by telephone or email.

You are probably aware that we are required to maintain accurate records of any absences on a day-to-day basis.

If your daughter is unable to attend School, please telephone the Junior or Senior School office as early as possible on the first day of absence to let us know the reason for her absence and the likely date of her return. It is extremely helpful if you can call before 9.30am, to avoid the need for school staff to contact you. Outside school office hours (8.00am - 5.00pm), a telephone answering service is available. On the day of your daughter’s return to school, please confirm the dates of her absence and please email the Senior School at absence@bedfordgirlsschool.co.uk, for the Junior School juniorschool@bedfordgirlsschool.co.uk or by letter (via your daughter). This information will be kept on file. Please ensure your daughter’s name, form and the date are clearly marked on the letter or email. This should be passed to the class teacher in the Junior School and the form tutor in the Senior School.

If your daughter needs to leave for an appointment during the school day, the school must be informed in advance, via an email to your daughter’s form tutor. All students (Years 3-11) must be collected by a parent or pre-arranged chaperone from school reception. They are required to sign out and to sign back in at reception.

We will contact parents if we have concerns about your daughter’s absences.

We strongly discourage parents from removing their daughter from School during term time as this absence may be detrimental to her progress. Our term dates are published in this booklet and we hope this will prevent any clashes with holiday plans. If, however, you wish to withdraw your daughter from School for reasons other than illness, a letter or email should be sent to the Headmistress, Gemma Gibson via absence@bedfordgirlsschool.co.uk

Your daughter should not bring large amounts of money or expensive personal possessions into school. The School does not accept responsibility for personal possessions.

In the Junior School, any money brought into School should be carried in a named purse or envelope and handed to the form teacher for safe keeping. Money must never be left in a school bag or cloakroom.

In the Senior School, small amounts should always be kept on her person (e.g. bus fare, tuck shop money) or locked in her locker.

In the Junior School, students are responsible for their mobile phones. They should place them in the classroom trays for safekeeping. Phones are not allowed to be used during the day, unless they have permission from a member of staff. All phones should be named.

In the Senior School, mobile phones should not be used in lessons, form times, or in corridors, assemblies or any other learning activity, unless directed to do so by a member of staff. Mobile phones should be switched off and placed in school bags or lockers at these times. They may not be used in the Dining Hall but they may be used at break, lunchtime and after school. Sixth Formers can also use their phones in the Common Room during study periods. The School does not accept responsibility for loss of or damage to mobile phones.

Junior School students are only permitted to cross Cardington Road under the supervision of a member of staff during the school day. The pedestrian crossing situated on Cardington Road is always used as the crossing point. Senior School students are required to use the pedestrian crossing whenever crossing the road.

As part of a policy to improve its environmental impact, Bedford Girls’ School encourages pupils and parents to choose eco-friendly ways to travel to and from school. Class teachers and form tutors should be informed of a students travel arrangements at the beginning of term. Please notify the school of any changes during the term.

We encourage you to walk or cycle to School where possible.

Every student who cycles to School is expected to wear a cycle helmet and to know and apply the rules of the Highway Code. Bicycle racks are provided in the Senior and Junior Schools and all bicycles must be padlocked during the school day. There should be no cycling within the grounds of the school.

There is an extensive network of coaches which have been arranged by parents for those students who live outside of Bedford. It is important that, if necessary, you contact the transport providers as soon as possible as places are limited and most buses run for all Harpur Trust schools. Details of routes and contacts can be found on the school website.

Please note, the School does not run coach or bus services. They are privately organised.

Upper Sixth students are allowed to park in the staff and visitors car park by the Astro on Cardington Road, but must apply for a parking permit from the Senior School office.