Boarding Handbook - V1 - August

Windlesham House School Boarding Handbook for Parents V1 2021

Introduction

3

Boarding Staff

3

Boarding Options

4

What happens in the boarding house Morning Routine Evening Routine Accommodation/Dorms Laundry Lost Property Gold Stars Pocket Money TV Treat Night Birthdays

5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

Keeping in Touch Phone calls and skype calls Letter Writing Post

7 7 7 7

Medical

8

Doctors Dentists Feeling unwell Wellbeing Dorm Buddy Independent Listener Food and Snacks

8 8 8 8 8 8 8

Introduction Boarding at Windlesham is a fun and busy place. The pupils always have something to do but we also find time for them to relax and enjoy being with their friends. We hope that the boarding experience will be hugely enjoyable and will also allow our boarders to mature and gain skills that will be vital for their futures, whether in a boarding senior school or further on in life.

Boarding Staff As a parent you will appreciate how important the staff who look after your children during boarding are. We have a fantastic and dedicated team of staff who will get to know your children really well. Our caring environment is heavily based on the good relationship between the child, home and us. If a parent/guardian would like to contact a member of the boarding team, they can email or telephone the Heads of Boarding.

Head of Boys’ Boarding Adam Pearson Heads of Girls’ Boarding Assistant Head of Boys’ Boarding Assistant Head of Boarding and Head Matron Boys’ Boarding Assistant Resident and Overnight Matrons

Day/Evening Matrons

Alice Wright

apearson@windlesham.com

01903 874812

awright@windlesham.com

01903 874760

Jack Scullion

jscullion@windlesham.com

Marie Kelleway

mkelleway@windlesham.com

Trina Pearson

tpearson@windlesham.com

Chris Adams Della Stevens Beth Brown Toni Elliott Rebecca Brightwell-Hawkins Sue Godden Amanda Pardon Lyn Simpkin Michelle Skeet Victoria Stauss Lucy Wakeford Jo Jones Lorraine Boyd

The matrons are with the boarders each evening and the overnight matrons live in the boarding house on their duty nights. They will make sure the boarders are ready for bed in the evening and ready for school in the morning. They also spend time talking to the children and getting to know them, and making sure that there is a lovely family atmosphere in the dorms.

In addition to the boarding staff and matrons the boarders are supported by a number of teaching staff in their role as House Parents. These staff will spend the evening with the children until they go to bed. They will organise activities throughout the evening and at weekends, as well as providing important continuity of care from the day to the evening.

Boarding Options It’s important that boarding suits your family and your child. To achieve this we are very pleased to offer a range of boarding options with lots of flexibility for pupils in Years 3 to 8.

Full boarding: Full boarding at Windlesham is Monday to Saturday or over the weekend (apart from exeats which we call long weekends).

Weekly boarding Weekly boarding for 4 nights a week.

Flexible part-time boarding: 2 or 3 nights a week, any night of the week (Monday to Sunday).

Occasional boarding: One night per week (any night).

What happens in the boarding house We have some clear routines to ensure that everyone knows where they should be when, and most importantly to make sure that all the children are well rested and well fed!

Morning Routine In the morning the boarding staff will get the boarders up and make sure that all is well before they go down to breakfast from 7:15am onwards. Just like parents, we’ll make sure they have cleaned their teeth and got everything they need for the day ahead.

YEAR GROUP

WAKE UP

BREAKFAST

Year 4 & 5

6.45am

7.15am

Year 6

7.15am

7.45am

Year 7

7.15am

7.50am

Year 8

6.45am

7.20am

Evening Routine Boarders enjoy free time and an extensive range of activities after supper until bedtime. Year 8 also have an opportunity to carry out a ‘Study Period’ to revise or catch up with work. Our aim is to provide a balance between structured and unstructured activity. We believe that our boarding aims are best achieved when boarders can make decisions about their use of free time and learn to play creatively and safely in the freedom that our grounds afford. Organised activities are seasonalvaried.

After activities and free time, boarders in all year groups are offered cereal and then gradually come upstairs, depending on their year group. They shower, play games, watch television, read, listen to audiobooks and wind down before bedtime. Various members of the boarding team are present to play with them and help them get ready for bed.

Year Group

Upstairs

Year 4 & 5

7pm

Year 6

Phone-in Time

Quiet Time

Lights Out

7:10-7:30pm

7:45pm

8.00pm

7:20pm

7:30 – 7:50pm

8:05pm

8:20pm

Year 7

7:40pm

7:50 – 8:10pm

8:30pm

8:40pm

Year 8

8pm

8:10 -8:45pm

8:45pm

9.00pm

Accommodation/Dorms The dorms are all cosy and welcoming but always benefit from a personal touch! We encourage boarders to put up posters or photos and bring soft toys to make them feel as comfortable as possible.

At the start of a new term, the children are allocated a different dorm so they have an opportunity to get to know as many of their peers as possible whilst taking into account new friendship groups. Changes can be made during the term but at the discretion of the Heads of Boarding. Dorms vary in size with both single and bunk beds.

Laundry

We look after all boarders’ clothing, washing and repairing whenever it is required.

All clothing brought into school must be clearly named with a sewn name tape.

Lost Property

Generally all named items are returned to their owners, but unnamed items rarely do! Please clearly name all your child’s belongings. Weekly lost property items are displayed in the boarding houses in order to find their owners.

Electronic Equipment and Handheld Games Personal electronic equipment including iPods, phones, tablets and handheld games are not permitted in the Boarding House or in school. If you do bring these items to school, they should be clearly named and handed into the school office on arrival. These devices may be collected when boarders go home or visit guardians or friends.

Certain types of Kindle are allowed for reading, but the Kindles are the responsibility of the child.

Gold Stars Gold stars can be received for good behaviour in the dormitories. The house totals are run separately from stars received downstairs. These count towards awards such as Star Boarder, Dorm of the Week and overall ‘Star’ winners at the end of term.

Pocket Money In the event of a trip boarders will be given spending money, should they require it, and this will be added to the parent’s bill.

TV We have designated TV nights for each year group. They are encouraged to watch the news for current affairs and also a variety of documentaries. If a boarder has requested a specific programme or there is an important sports match on then we will allow boarders to watch this.

Treat Night This is held on a Thursday or Friday night The children are given crisps, popcorn and drinks whilst they watch a movie.

Birthdays

When a boarder has a birthday the boarding team will decorate their bed and their dorm will have a treat. If you would like us to organise a cake for them (either with the dorm, the year or their form) we are happy to do that. Please complete the cake request form here: birthday cake form.

Boarders have the opportunity to have a birthday cake and party with their whole year group. They receive a card from the Headmaster and a Happy Birthday banner is put over their bed on the day.

Keeping in Touch We know how important it is that pupils are able to talk to their parents regularly; for that reason we have several phones available and systems in place for overseas boarders too.

Phone calls and skype calls All boarders can contact home at all reasonable times whether this be in the morning before school, in break times or in the evenings. Each child has a school email and a telephone PIN number. There are telephones located in different areas of the school for the children to use. In the evenings parents/guardians are able to phone their children at the set times. Videocalls (Skype and Facetime) can also be arranged, especially at the weekends when pupils have more time.

Parents and Guardians can phone their children to say goodnight on the following numbers at the times given above: Boys’ Dorms: Girls’ Dorms:

+44 01903 900 971 +44 01903 874 749 +44 01903 874 031 +44 01903 874 030

There are 10 cordless phones available so children can have some privacy on calls. We have a switchboard system in place that allows the phones not in use to ring should the other phones be in use. The phones are switched off on Sunday evenings. This allows us to settle children more easily.

Parents who live Overseas in different time zones can also call into dorms from 7am.

We would be very grateful if you could only call within these times as this allows us to keep to showering and bedtime routines and helps us to settle the children. If you encounter any problems, please email the appropriate Heads of Boarding.

For parents calling in from overseas, who may have more difficulty in getting through; there is a designated number available for you to call on. Please contact the Heads of Boarding if you would like these additional numbers made available to you.

Letter Writing

All boarders write weekly letters home and they all receive letters from parents, relatives and friends in the evenings.

Post Post is allowed at all times during the course of the term and post is given to the boarders once they have showered in their dorms. Please do not send in food

but boarders are always happy to receive letters, postcards and small packages of other items.

Medical The school has a medical centre and a school nurse on site all day and into the evening. Outside these times we have a number of boarding staff trained in first aid. For further information please see our Medical Policy & Procedure.

Doctors Boarders are registered with the school doctor. If a child needs to see a doctor this will be arranged by the school nurse in consultation with parents. The doctor usually has appointments with the children on a Monday and Thursday morning.

Dentists It is not mandatory but boarders can be registered with a school dentist and the school will transport them for appointments. More information can be provided by contacting our School Nurse: medical@windlesham.com

Feeling unwell

If pupils feel ill they are taken to the Medical Centre where they will be assessed.

Their temperature is taken immediately and if it is too high then parents will be rung and asked to collect them or they will be looked after in the Medical Centre. Various medications stocked in the surgery can remedy most problems but if the prognosis requires a doctor’s attention then again, parents (or Guardians) will be called in (in the case of an epidemic, dormitories in the boys and girls wings can be freed-up to accommodate sick children).

Wellbeing It is vital that your children are happy and safe as boarders at Windlesham and we put in a number of measures to make sure that this is the case. These measures include the circle of care, which means that pupils have a number of staff who they can turn to for support including the boarding team, matrons, school nurses and teachers, they also have a dorm buddy and access to independent listeners. Finally, the boarders can always telephone ChildLine, free, on 0800 1111 Or the Office of the Children’s Commissioner on 0800 5280731

Dorm Buddy All new pupils are given a dorm buddy (another pupil in their dorm) who will look after them and show them the boarding routines.

Independent Listener We have two trusted adults who can be contacted by pupils should they wish to speak to someone other than staff, parents or friends.

Please see our Child Protection & Safeguarding Policy.

Food and Snacks Pupils are provided with a hot breakfast, a snack at morning break, lunch, a snack at afternoon break, supper and cereal before bed. For more details about mealtimes, please see the menus which are available here. We also appreciate that children like a treat and we therefore have some things in place for this.

Boarders usually receive ‘grub’ a couple of times a week - on their year group’s treat night and at the weekend. This will be something like a small bag of sweets and a packet of crisps. In addition, on an ad hoc basis we open the tuck shop (usually on Saturday) and pupils are permitted to spend up to £1.00 per week, which will be added to the bill.

We request that boarders do not bring their own food into school. This helps us to ensure equity between the boarders and avoids issues such as food allergies.

Windlesham House School, Washington, Pulborough, West Sussex, RH20 4AY whsoffice@windlesham.com +44(0) 1903 874700 windlesham.com Parent Portal