Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the answers to some questions we are often asked. The Gateway team are always happy to help you so please get in touch with us if you need more information.

The following procedures will apply in the event of rain.

A. IF IT IS RAINING WHEN THE BELL GOES AT THE END OF THE SCHOOL DAY

1. Children will remain in their classrooms.
2. Parents will collect children from classrooms.
3. Children must not be left in classroom unsupervised.

B. IF RAIN STARTS DURING THE LUNCH HOUR 1

. All children are to go with the teacher on Lunch Duty to the Hall.
2. On Mon & Tues, when the bell rings, children are to go to Clubs or Supervision.
3. On Wed & Thurs, when the bell rings, children are to report to the teacher-in-charge of their sporting activity. If at this time, it is still raining too hard for children to move out of the hall, all teachers on duty should go to the Hall to work out an alternative arrangement.

C. IF RAIN STARTS DURING CLUBS

Children are to stay put until the weather allows them to move. Where outside clubs are involved, the children will be taken to the hall for supervision, by the club teacher or member of staff in the hall.

D. CROSS-COUNTRY PLANS IN CASE OF STORM

Plan A: Carry on as normal
Plan B: If light rain starts just prior to or during cross-country, carry on as normal, but be ready for Plan C if rain becomes too heavy.
Plan C: Rain is too hard to carry on, also lightning If this occurs · During club time, children remain in club classrooms. · If it occurs at the beginning of cross-country, children go to the specific house classes, usually one of those of a teacher in their house – organise with heads of house. · Teachers in charge must remain with the children until the storm subsides and not allow them to run around in the rain.

ADDITIONAL NOTES
E. We follow the wet weather program as indicated in the letter to parents – i.e.: If it is raining at lunch time, children stay in their classes until collected by parents. If during club time, the same applies. If it rains during the lunch break, the children must assemble in the hall complete with their school and kit bags. As many staff as possible to go to the hall and help the poor lone individual who is on lunch duty. If it rains during cross country the children again must go to the hall if there is lightning! House staff must accompany them. If during sports – the hall, again staff must accompany them.
F. The problem with school bags: Children are supposed to assemble on the field for Cross country, their bags to be put on the concrete near where the house register is done. If it looks likely to rain, before the children start to run, they must put their kit in the hall. Each house will be allocated a corner of the hall. I will be putting a label up in each corner of the hall so that houses will know which corner to use. The school team must put their kit on the stage, and not with their house kit. If we do this, it will mean that after the children have run, if they are wet, their books and change of clothes or track-suit will still be dry!
G. Rain and Cross Country – If it is raining, children can still run cross country provided there is no lightning around. Obviously if the rain is too hard and will interfere with visibility or be dangerous to run in, the children will need to come off the fields.
H. What to do in the hall – If the houses are in their corners, things will be easier to control. First priority is to get the children who are wet into dry clothes. I suggest that this is done one or two houses at a time, with a time limit and supervision. Once this has been done, teachers with classroom access should take children who have their school books with them to their classrooms to do homework. This will help to reduce the chaos in the hall. Once we have reduced numbers in the hall, we need to provide some meaningful activity for the children. Aerobics, some kind of chasing or co-ordination games, etc. What is important is that we don’t allow the children to run riot during this time. PE staff will try and co-ordinate activities as much a s possible, however please do not wait for them to initiate this!
I. In the hall during sport time – If the children have already gone to their various sports after cross country. Coaches are responsible to take their children and kit to the hall. If the coach has access to a classroom – this would be preferable. The coaches are then responsible to supervise their teams until late supervision time. It would then be wise to continue this supervision in the hall if the heavy rain persists or the late supervision is full. I hope that these ideas will help to avoid confusion, loss of kit, and chaos . I realise that it would be much easier if the rain would fall at less inconvenient times, but we have to do our best to work within the conditions and constraints we have.

In order to improve security in the school, the following will be implemented:

1. No pupil will be allowed to leave the school grounds unaccompanied by an adult, unless : a. they have a letter authorising them to do so by their parents in which case they will be issued with a permanent gate pass b. they have an interim gate pass signed by a member of staff

2. A list of pupils issued with permanent passes (‘a’ above) will be kept with the security guard at the main gate on Wretham Road.

3. All pupils who are unaccompanied will use the main gate near the Admin block to exit the school.

4. All pupils who are unaccompanied will still need to sign out even though they have a gate pass.

5. Security guards will be on duty at all exit points while they are open.

6. No grade one or two will be permitted to leave the school unaccompanied by an adult under any circumstances.

Duties are RELATIONSHIP BUILDING TIMES. These should be rotated so as to allow prefects to serve in different areas and for the more difficult ones to be shared. Don’t think of them as boring; think of them as an opportunity to build relationships, with God or with other pupils or staff.

Download the Prefect Manual here.

Teachers in the school are expected to cover the syllabus for each subject in each term. It Is expected that where children struggle or fall behind the teachers will find time to assist the child-there is no extra charge for this "going of the extra mile-"our teachers do this regularly.

Staff in the school are not permitted to offer extra lessons to pupils in the school for personal gain - this would constitute a conflict of interest. The Ministry of Education and the Association of Trust Schools (ATS) endorse this position.

The pressure for extra tuition generally comes from parents of children in grade 7 who have to write entrance examinations in order to get into secondary school. There are three things Gateway Primary School would like to mention in this regard:

  1. The Staff in the school are perfectly capable of seeing that the children cover the syllabus adequately in preparation for these entrance examinations without children having to resort to using up their precious free time for additional tuition-to say nothing of the financial cost to parents!
  2. Those parents applying for places at Gateway High School for their children are guaranteed access provided that the children have a clean disciplinary record and fees at Gateway Primary School are fully paid up. This removes much stress for both parent and child.
  3. The Heads of the ATS High Schools have told as again and again that they are not simply looking for academic performance but for children who are fully involved in their primary schools. They are looking for well rounded citizens who show proficiency in a number of different areas-academic, cultural, leadership, sport , character, community mindedness, leadership ability-to name a few.

Please read Gateway Primary School's Code of Conduct here.

To improve the security the following measures should be adopted:

DESK LOCKS

Desks in the school have been modified so that they can be locked. Children should be encouraged to purchase a small padlock with a 4 mm shank. Two keys are to be provided. One remains with the teacher, the other with the child. In the event that a child loses his key, the teacher provides the spare and the child is not allowed to lock the desk until the spare is returned.

SUITCASES

During break these remain in the classroom.

In the afternoon children must take their suitcases with them for both clubs and sports. Staff taking sports should ensure that suitcases are placed in a safe location which can be easily seen from the coaching area. Teams travelling to other schools should leave suitcases in the classroom of the member of staff in charge of the team or with the teacher on late duty.

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