The Corbet School Prospectus - General Information

School Prospectus

General Information

Religious Education

Arrangements For Withdrawing Pupils From Religious Education And Collective Worship

Religious Education follows the Shropshire Agreed Syllabus. It allows pupils to enquire into and gain an appreciation of the beliefs and practices of the major world religions whilst finding its greater emphases in Christianity. Matters of moral decision-making and ethical behaviour are considered.

Parents are allowed by law to withdraw their children from these aspects of the curriculum, but only on the grounds of religious conviction. A pupil would be accommodated separately, and parents are asked to provide some religious study of their own to be done at the time of the lesson. During school assemblies the pupils would normally remain in the tutor room.

Sex Education

There is a full and balanced programme of sex education that takes place throughout the five years. The majority of the programme will be delivered during a number of 'Special Focus Events' when, at various points within the school year, whole year groups will spend time considering a wide range of topics and themes, dedicated to Personal, Social & Health Education.

Not all of these days will be dealing with sex education. In addition to the biological aspects of Sex Education, elements with a moral emphasis and a due regard to the values of family life are covered, in an attempt to promote responsible behaviour and attitudes, and encourage our pupils to plan for their future lives.

The proposed course of study is outlined in the Governors' Sex Education and Relationships Policy. All parents receive a copy of this document. The policy document details parents' right under the 1993 Education Act to withdraw their child from parts or the whole of the sex education programme. Parents who would like more information about this area are invited to discuss it with the appropriate Head of School.

Absence - the law

1. Authorised Absence is absence for illness, unavoidable medical appointments, family crises relating to the child, external examinations and other exceptional circumstances.

2. Unauthorised Absence is absence which remains unexplained by parents/guardians, taking time away from school for non-urgent, avoidable activities (whether or not explained) and truancy.

The decision as to whether an absence is authorised or not rests with the school.

If your child is absent, due to illness, please notify the school by telephone as soon as possible, on the first day of absence.

Holidays In Term Time

STOP - PAUSE - THINK
about the effect holidays in term has on your child!

Holidays taken during the school term are extremely disruptive for both pupils and teaching staff and we strongly recommend that they should be avoided. Any time missed from a pupil’s education can and does have a direct impact on their learning. Copying up missed work or catching up with practical work is never the same as experiencing it first hand in the normal lesson time. This becomes all the more concerning if pupils in exam years miss school at key times prior to public or trial examination periods.

This view is fully endorsed by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) who have changed the rules over the authorised and unauthorised absence regarding holidays in term time. The school is only prepared to consider authorising a MAXIMUM of FIVE school days in any one academic year (September to July). Any time taken for holidays longer than five days, unless the school consider there are exceptional and valid reasons, will count as unauthorised absence. Furthermore leave of absence will not be authorised in the following circumstances:

the first term of Year 7
for Year 11 pupils
during examination periods.

The Educational Welfare Service will be informed when these guidelines are not followed. In such circumstances, they may take further action, including the possibility of imposing fixed penalty fines on any parents taking their children away for more than five days, or in the other specified circumstances.

If leave of absence is to be requested parents must complete an application form in advance of the holiday.

Accessibility Plan

Under the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act, the school reviewed its Accessibility Plan during the Spring Term 2008, with both internal and external inspections. The school reviewed areas of concern over access by any disabled staff, pupils or visitors. All ground floor buildings have good access via ramps or very low storm door lips. The only building with two floors is the Science Block which houses Art and Maths on its first floor. Where access to these curriculum areas is required the possibility of locating teaching groups downstairs is considered. This only causes a problem with Art which has specialist facilities upstairs. A stair chair lift was considered, but has been ruled out at present following a visit from the DCSF Architect who was reviewing Technology College Status spending plans. The cost of an external lift has been put at £100,000 and at present cannot be budgeted for.

The Local Authority made checks in 2005 to assess accessibility to “public areas” under the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act and, as a result, altered access to the Main Hall. The access to all public areas has now been re-vamped with Audio Links available. A new Learning Support room was constructed in the Summer of 2005 to allow ground floor access to pupils and staff. The remaining curriculum areas causing concern therefore are still Art and Maths.

How Can You Have Complaints Considered?

If matters of concern or complaint arise, contact should be, in the first instance, with the appropriate tutor or Head of School. Consultations may then be arranged, if necessary, within school with teaching staff, the Deputy Head and the Head.

On the rare occasion when discussions at this level do not resolve the matter, an approach to the Governing Body Complaints Committee may be made via the Clerk to the Governors, c/o The School Office.

What Else Might You Want To Know?

There are a number of documents published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families covering many educational issues as well as internal documents on various aspects of this particular school's life. If you would be interested in any of these, please contact the School Office.

How Do You Apply For A Place?

Pupils are admitted to The Corbet School regardless of their aptitude and ability. If you are applying for a place as a Year 7 entrant in September 2009 you should use the Local Authority common forms that will be available from your child’s Primary School. If you are applying for entry at any other time please obtain an Application Form direct from the Corbet School Office.
For further information the school’s normal attendance area primary schools are:-

Baschurch Church of England
Bicton Church of England
Bomere Heath Church of England
Kinnerley Church of England
Myddle Church of England
St Andrew's Church of England, Nesscliffe
St John the Baptist Church of England, Ryton XI Towns
West Felton Church of England
Weston Lullingfields Church of England

A number of pupils are admitted every year from areas beyond the normal attendance area.

Completed application forms for entry into Year 7 September 2009 should reach the Local Authority by 5th November 2008. You will be notified of the allocation of places by the following 1st March each year.

The Governors are obliged to have admission criteria, which are published in full on page 13, which come into play when applications exceed the number of places available. If this figure is not reached, all applications for entry for the following September received by the above date will be successful. The School “Standard Number” is 135.

You are always welcome to look around the school and we will be happy to answer your questions.

Please telephone the School on 01939 260296 to make an appointment.

Our Open Day will be Tuesday October 7th, 2008 when you can see the normal school day in operation. Please contact the school for an appointment. There will also be an evening session between 7.00pm and 9.00pm, on the same day.

School Security

In an effort to know exactly who has authorisation to be in the school, we have a security system whereby all visitors are issued with a visitor's badge on arrival. This is handed back to the office on departure. We also have an extensive range of CCTV equipment to record activity in key areas of the school grounds and buildings. The recordings can be retrieved to evidence security incidents, as well as for monitoring general behaviour and reviewing Health & Safety matters. The system provides essential support to our “Safer Schools” initiative, conducted in association with West Mercia Police and Shropshire County Council.

The Corbet School Technology College