Welcome To Percy Hedley

School times

9.00am- 3.30pm (pupils accepted from 8.45am)

The school is open 32.5 hours per week.

Transport Information

Student transport is generally provided by their Local Education Authority. The staff at Percy Hedley make every effort to ensure that liaison with the taxi companies is good and that any difficulties are resolved. However the Local Education Authority ultimately holds the responsibility for monitoring the performance of the firms contracted to do this work.

Absence

Parents and carers have a responsibility to notify the school if their child is going to be absent. This may be via email or a note in the school diary if the absence is known in advance, e.g. a medical appointment. Or if the absence is unplanned, for example due to illness, a telephone call to the school office on 0191 216 1811 before 9.30am on the first day of absence.

If parents and carers would like to request leave of absence for a pupil to have time off during term time, they should complete a Leave of Absence form available from the school office and submit it at least 5 working days prior to the date of the requested leave.

School Meals

Lunchtimes are an important part of the school day with all students’ individual needs and dietary requirements catered for. With the exception of those in receipt of Free School Meals or those who require an IDDSI meal prepared to levels 3-6, school meals are provided at a cost of £2.50 for a main meal and dessert. If you are not currently in receipt of free school meals and believe you may be eligible, please contact the school office on 0191 216 1811 and they will arrange for an application form to be sent to you. Our Family Liaison Officer, Eileen Robinson, will also be able to support you through this process.

We use an online system (https://www.ipayimpact.co.uk) to manage our lunch process and this is used regardless of your child meals choice of packed lunch or school meal. All parents are asked to register an account and use the system to indicate their child’s daily meal requirements which can be logged for up to 10 weeks in advance.

Pupils are welcome to bring in a snack for break times and a packed lunch if they wish.

Find Out More About School Meals at PHS >

School Uniform

School uniform is encouraged but not compulsory. All pupils should be dressed in comfortable, loose fitting clothing. There is a range of clothing available with the school logo, which can be purchased through the school office. Lower School uniform consists of a white polo shirt and a purple jumper whilst the Upper School uniform is a white polo shirt with a black jumper.

Home learning

Additional work to be carried out at home is part of our support to enable pupils to reach their full potential. However, homework is not appropriate for some of our pupils and parents will be informed by the class teams of how to support learning at home appropriately.

Activities may include: reading, spelling, life skills tasks and activities associated with pupil’s Education and Health Care targets or therapy targets. There is an expectation that pupils undertaking accreditation will receive some home based learning tasks or revision schedules.

Religious Education (RE) and Collective Worship

We follow a differentiated RE curriculum within the context of advice from the Department for Education. Planned work undertaken during our daily collective worship has a religious basis but takes account of pupils’ cultures, experiences and achievements. Parents retain the right to withdraw their child from religious education and collective worship.

School policy on charging for school activities

We can legally request voluntary contributions in support of any school activity taking place during or after school. However there is no obligation to contribute and pupils will not be discriminated against if parents are unwilling or unable to contribute.

A Day At School

Arriving at school

In the morning, this is where you will be dropped off and met by a member of staff from your class team, who will take you to your class.

Drop-Off Point

Here is a picture of the entrance from our drop-off point to the school.

Entrance from Drop-Off Point

Your classroom

You will have a classroom where most of your sessions will take place; this is slightly different if you’re in Post-16, where you may move around different classes within the Post-16 area. We have too many classrooms to take a picture of all of them, so here are a couple of pictures to show you what your class might look like. Each class has a class teacher and therapists that work with the class. Our therapists sometimes work in class with the class group and take students, and on occasions, they work with small groups of children or individual children outside of their classroom.

Lunchtime

In the morning a member of your class team will discuss with you what your options are for lunch. Once you have chosen what you would like, the staff member will tell the kitchen staff so they can make this for you. At lunchtime, you will eat lunch with your class; this will be either in your class or in the dining hall, your teacher will tell you on your first day where this will be. If you would prefer to bring a packed lunch then you can – we are a nut-free school so if you do we ask that your packed lunch does not contain nuts.

Lunch in the Dining Hall

When you and your class arrive at the dining hall, you will sit with students from your class and others to eat your lunch. After lunch, you and your class can spend some time in your classroom or an allocated area before the start of your next session.

Dining Hall

Lunch in your classroom

If you or your class eat their lunch in your classroom, then a member of staff from your class will collect your lunch from the dining hall. Once you’ve finished your lunch, you can spend some time in your classroom or allocated area before the start of your next session.

Classroom

Breaktime and Lunchtime

You will have a break in the morning or afternoon and have time after lunch to play or socialise. There are many different areas within school where students can spend their break. At the moment we have allocated these areas to different classes, you will be told on your first day which areas you will have access to. Here are pictures of our different break and lunchtime areas.