FAQs

Discover additional information about attendance, punctuality, the school day, and extra curricular activities at Parrs Wood High School, through our dedicated section of frequently asked questions tailored for parents and carers.

Attendance

It is a known fact that regular attendance is closely linked with attainment. As a parent/carer it is your legal responsibility to ensure that your child attends school. We are committed to working in partnership with you to ensure that your child has excellent attendance. Requests for absence during term time will not be granted, excluding situations that would be deemed as exceptional circumstances by the Headteacher and Local Authority. Where possible, medical appointments should be made outside of the school day. School will allow approximately 1-2 hours for appointments (including travel time). A medical card with appointment times should be shown on return to school.

From September and throughout the academic year, attendance at school is compulsory and the usual rules apply:

It is the parents’ duty to ensure that their child (of compulsory school age) attends regularly at the school where the child is a registered pupil
It is the school’s responsibility to record attendance and follow up absence
The ability to issue sanctions, including fixed penalty notices in line with local authority’s codes of conduct, is at the discretion of the Headteacher

Learn more about Attendance and Absence in our dedicated Parents’ and Carers’ section.

Punctuality

It is very important that your child arrives to school on time. Following the initial settling in period, your child will be issued with a late detention of 15 minutes (for the same day) if they arrive to school late. Should they arrive after 9am, this detention will be increased to 30 minutes.

Please visit our School Day page for timings.

Reserving a Locker

At Parrs Wood High School, we have a large number of lockers available to students at a fixed cost. The lockers are only available for a five-year period and therefore, students will be required to return their locker keys to the school.

To read more information on how to purchase a locker please visit our School Lockers page.

Breakfast Club

To support parents/carers who have work or childcare commitments, we run a Breakfast Club in our small dining hall for those students who may need to arrive early.

Learn more about School Meals and Breakfast Club.

Personal Development Curriculum (PDC)

Your child will be assigned a Tutor group and Tutor base and they will meet with their Tutor for 20 minutes every morning. During this time, students are registered, and they complete Personal Development Curriculum activities.

The PDC tasks cover topics within the PSHE and Citizenship curriculum, and also ensure that students learn about Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural aspects of life. In addition to this, Tutors use this time to speak to students, check their planners, and ensure that they are fully prepared for the day ahead.

As part of our 1,000,000 km challenge, students also complete a 1 km walk around the school site on an assigned day and meet as a year group for a formal assembly once a week.

Your child will be in a tutor group comprised of students of different abilities from a range of partner primary schools. In completing the ‘All About Me Form’, we will endeavour to ensure that your child is placed in a tutor group with at least one other person that they know well.

Class Types

Students are taught in their form groups for: Art, Music, Drama, PE, PSHE and Technology.

Students are placed in broad ability sets for: English, Maths, Science, History, Geography and Languages. Your child will have a different teacher and classroom for each curriculum subject.

Learn more about our Curriculum Offer.

Break and Lunch Time

We are incredibly proud of our ‘Healthy Schools’ status and aim to provide nutritious food for our students during the course of the day. The school uses a biometric system to provide cashless catering. At break, a range of breakfast snacks, sandwiches and drinks are available to purchase and at lunch, hot meals, salads and sandwiches (catering for halal and vegetarian diets) are available.

Students are welcome to bring a packed lunch on any day and may eat this in the dining room with their peers instead of purchasing food. Where students are bringing in food from home, we would politely remind you that fizzy drinks, energy drinks and large sharing-style confectionary and crisps are not permitted.

Learn more about School Meals.

Extra-curricular Activities

In September, your child will be given a list of the Extra-curricular Activities that they can participate in. These activities take place both during the school day and after school hours.