Our school gate is opened promptly at 8:40am to welcome our children into school for another exciting day at Therfield First School.  Children are greeted by a range of school adults as they make their way straight into the school and into their classroom.  The teacher will be waiting to greet the children in class, with early morning activities ready to commence.  Registers are taken at 8:45am when the school day officially starts.  The school gate will close promptly at 8:45am to enable staff to return to the classroom to support our children with their learning in school. Parents arriving after this time will need to buzz through to the school office, and accompany their child across the playground and into the entrance hall.  Children will make their way straight to their classroom and parents will be asked to sign the child in as late.  

We take attendance and punctuality very seriously at Therfield First School and both of these are monitored rigorously by the headteacher.  Where there is an unexpected circumstance that may cause a child to arrive late, we ask that you notify the school office at the earliest opportunity.  This way, we can pass any messages onto the class teacher, ensure a lunch is ordered, where necessary, listen out for the gate buzzer etc.  

Break time takes place typically between 10:30-10:50am and lunchtime is between 12:00-1:00pm.  Children receive a second registration mark for the day at 1:00pm.  

The school day ends at 3:10pm for our Reception pupils and at 3.15pm for pupils in Years 1-4.  The school gate will be opened shortly before 3:10pm and parents are asked to wait for their child on the playground.  Class teachers will lead their classes out at the end of each day and take their class to their designated waiting area on their playground until they are handed over personally to the adult that we are expecting to collect each child.  

If you need to collect your child early for any reason, you will need to inform the school office about this (by phone or email) and children can be collected from the school entrance hall/office.  

Changes to collection arrangements at the end of the day

The school office must be your first point of contact for any matters involving a deviation to your child’s school day. If you know in advance that you will be arriving late, leaving early, have a medical appointment, etc, the office needs to know directly as this is where the school registers are maintained. In the case of a school evacuation, the office should know the exact up-to-date whereabouts of all the children that are on roll at Therfield School. Please do not rely on the class teacher informing the office based on a conversation with you or a comment in the link book. The office will pass on the relevant information to the class teachers.

We are unable to send children home with alternative adults if the school office has not been made aware of this arrangement. If anybody else is collecting your child, including an older sibling, the school must be notified of this in advance. We can only accept this instruction from you, the parent. The best way to do this is to telephone or email the school office, or come and write it on the designated sheet in the entrance hall.. We would appreciate as much notice as possible so that we can ensure that the child and class teacher are made aware of it too. If you have a more regular arrangement for who is collecting your child on set days, or would like to give ongoing permission for a particular adult to be authorised to collect your child(ren) then we need to receive written notice about this. This can be in the form of a letter or email into the office. The safeguarding of all our children is of paramount importance.  By informing us of your child’s absence and letting us know of any changes to collection arrangements you can help us to ensure your child’s safety.