The Parents Handbook is intended to provide information about the school, its organisation and procedures. To be effective the guide needs to balance hard and fast arrangements with a degree of flexibility to help make life easier for all members of the school. Thus, the information contained in the following pages is a source of reference and reassurance. There may well be areas not addressed and areas which need to be included at a future date. Do please call if you have any queries whatsoever.

GOVERNING BOARD
The Headmaster is responsible to the Governing Board which comprises those people listed below:

Mr. J. Bax (Chairman), Mr. A. Espley, Mr. D. Yellowlees, Mrs. E. Hay, Mr. B. Thompson, Mrs. F. Doig, Mr. B. Farrar and Mr. S. Brown.

The principal functions of the Board of Governors are:

1. To appoint the Headmaster.
2. To monitor and advise on the schools aims and objectives.
3. The election of the Members of the Board and its Chairman.
4. Control of school finances.

The Board meets at least once a term and no less than four times in the year.

EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
The school operates a wide variety of extra curricular activities which includes music, games, dance, drama, debating, horse riding, tennis, skiing and scripture union amongst others. If you would like your child involved in any of the activities then either refer to a member of staff or make contact with me. At the beginning of each year the class teacher will tell the children of the sorts of activities that are available on a day to day basis.

Games for Forms 5, 6, 7 and 8 take place on Thursdays after school from 3.30 until 5.00pm but 4.45 after October half term. Again on Saturday mornings in the Christmas term and in the Summer term there will be games for children from Forms 6, 7, and 8 from 10.00 until 12 noon. During the Spring term there is optional skiing on Saturdays, normally at Glenshee.

LATE PREP
Children can be cared for after school from 3.30pm until 6pm by three members of staff appointed purely for that purpose.

Children should inform their Form Registration Teacher in the morning if they will be staying to Late Prep that afternoon.

The arrangements are that any child who is left after school will be looked after by the member of staff on duty until 3.50pm, and between 3.30pm and 3.50pm those children will be picked up by one or either of the Late Prep teachers and taken to one or other of the Late Prep classrooms. Currently those classrooms are Rooms 2, 3 and 4.

On release from class at 3.30pm, the children in Forms 1 and 2 will stay in their classroom or be taken to Late Prep, whilst other children will wait in either the porch of the junior school or the middle school, or they should go directly to their parent’s car. No other place is acceptable except where an official school activity is being undertaken in which case the child should go directly to the site of that activity.

Pre-school children staying after school will remain in the Pre-school building.

If a child has sustained an injury or been ill during the day but has not gone home then the member of staff responsible for that child should pass on the information to the Late Prep staff.

ACADEMIC INFORMATION - CURRICULUM
Children from aged 3 in the Pre-school to Form 5 in the main school are taught in classes with a class teacher. The basis of the curriculum is the Scottish National Curriculum, known as 5-14. Extension work occurs at all levels for children of all abilities and therefore the teaching is differentiated according to pupil need. Specialist teaching in the early years will happen in games, music, IT and gym. French is introduced in Form 5.

In Forms 6, 7 and 8 separate subject teaching is introduced. Latin is available in Form 6 and the basis of the curriculum is English National Curriculum in preparation for the transfer examination known as Common Entrance. This is usually taken in the Summer term prior to the end of Form 8.

TRANSFER TO SENIOR SCHOOL
Transfer to senior school normally takes place in the September following the thirteenth birthday. The choice of the senior school will ultimately be determined by the parents but usually there are formal and informal discussions with the Headmaster about suitable choices of school and suitable modes of entry. Whilst some children have been entered for senior schools at birth, the majority now have that decision made for them during the course of their time in Forms 6 and 7, i.e., age 10, 11 and 12. The Headmaster is always available for consultation on these issues and he keeps close contact with schools throughout the United Kingdom and abroad in order to foster links which will smooth the transfer of any child into senior school.

LEARNING SUPPORT
Learning support is available to children who may require extra help. That learning support is first of all delivered by the class or subject teachers, and then by a number of teachers in the school who contribute to the learning support programme. When necessary an assessment by an Educational Psychologist may be sought after consultation with parents.

REPORTS
Written reports are completed for parents at the end of each term. Each member of staff who sees a child will complete a single sheet and in addition the Headmaster will write a report on each pupil. Throughout the school year there are regular Parent/Teacher meetings in order to ensure that contact between home and school will be as close as possible.

MARK SHEETS
Mark Sheets go home once or twice a term for Forms 5 to 8. These are completed on the basis of marks achieved by the children over a four to five week period and will also include a mark for effort and behavior based on a scale of A+ to C.

INFORMAL CONTACT
The main means of informal contact with the school is by letter or note and the children are often used as postmen. It is very helpful if you check their schoolbags regularly in order to see if there are any notes which have not been passed over.

SCHOOL UNIFORM
A list of school uniform is on the School Uniform webpage. Every parent, almost without fail, agrees with the need for school uniform, but it is almost impossible equally to agree uniformly about the content of uniform. Thus the school sets a uniform policy and asks all parents to conform. The dress code for on duty occasions is the blazer, and the children are expected to wear their blazer to any function out of school whilst in school time, and any formal function within school, should that occasion arise.

School uniform can be obtained at Aitken & Niven (Local Stockist)

POLICY DOCUMENTS
A whole series of Policy Documents are available to all members of staff which provide guidelines for the care of our children, both in and out of school. These include: Use of the Minibuses / Lunch / Use of the Sports Hall / Outdoor Education / Marking / Music / Use of the Computers / Pupil Behaviour / Bullying.

LOST PROPERTY
Items of lost property can be found in one of two places. All valuables that are lost will be handed into the school office and kept until claimed. Items of clothing will be found in the red chest of drawers in the bottom corridor of the main building. All lost property which remains at the end of term will be kept until half term of the following term and then disposed of if not claimed.

FEES
Fees are payable on the first day of each term. Various schemes for paying fees are available ranging from lump sum payments in advance or a monthly payment scheme which is operated through a third party. Information is readily available from the Bursar or Headmaster.

OVERDUE FEES
Accounts are due and payable by the first day of each term, unless arrangements have been made to pay monthly. The school reserves the right to charge 2% per month on all accounts not paid by the start day of each term, or if monthly payments are not honoured.

NOTICE OF WITHDRAWAL OF A PUPIL
One full term’s written notice of withdrawal is required, otherwise a term’s fees will be charged in lieu.

EXTRAS
In general the school fee covers the bulk of charges to be made but some extras are charged separately. These include individual music lessons, outings, skiing, Late Prep, etc.

REGISTRATION FEE
On payment of the first term's fee a registration fee of £100 is added. This is non-returnable.

PUPILS PERSONAL ACCIDENT INSURANCE
All pupils are covered by the Pupils' Accident Insurance Scheme compensating on permanent disability or death.
The premium is automatically included in the fees.

PARENTS' CHANGE OF ADDRESS
Parents are requested to notify the school of any change of address and/or telephone number as soon as possible, giving the date of change.

ILLNESS
Parents are asked to contact the school in the event of illness or absence. If a child has an illness or condition e.g. asthma, epilepsy, tonsillitis or any allergy, the school should be notified.

PARKING
In the mornings, parents wishing to take children to their classroom or talk to members of staff should park in the Main Car Park. Parents wishing to drop their children off should drive into the tennis court, turn immediately left and move around the edge as far as possible before stopping. Children should then get out of the car and head to the closest set of steps, staying on the edge of the tarmac area. This should create a constant flow of traffic through this area provided cars leaving the court are allowed priority.

In the afternoons, please park in either the Main Car Park or the Tennis Court. Children in Forms 1 and 2 may be collected from their classrooms or the square, but those in 3 upwards should be met at the tree stump next to the Pre-school building. This will reduce the amount of time for which cars are parked and so help free up parking spaces.

At all times, patience and care are required to ensure the safety of everyone’s children. Only cars displaying registered disabled stickers should use the disabled parking spaces near the Pre-school.

Please do not use a hand held mobile phone while driving in the school.