Main Office

Miss Jodi Roux is our Office Manager and Admissions Officer. For admissions enquiries, please contact her via: jodi.roux@claremont.kent.sch.uk

Mrs Stephanie Kirk is our Administrative Assistant. For all general enquiries and attendance/absence queries, please contact her via: admin@claremont.kent.sch.uk

The school office is open from 8.30am and closes at 4.00pm. Tel: 01892 531395.

Finance Office

Mrs Julie Cook is our School Business Manager. Please contact her via: julie.cook@claremont.kent.sch.uk

Mrs Tracy Brookbank is our Finance Assistant. For general finance enquiries including online payments and dinner money, please contact her via: finance@claremont.kent.sch.uk
 

Communicating with parents

We use Schoolcomms as our main form of communicating with parents. We try to keep emails to a minimum so send home a Newsletter every Friday via Schoolcomms. This is our main means of communicating news and forthcoming events with parents, so please do read it!

The link to the school calendar is on the homepage. Please follow this link for term dates and staff development days. 

Should you move house or have any changes to your contact details and email addresses, please inform the school office as soon as possible.

Parent Code of Conduct

At the heart of our school is a commitment to creating a safe, positive and respectful environment where every member of our community can thrive.

Our school values are reflected in the expectations we set for our children through the Pupil Code of Conduct, for our staff through the Professional Standards and Code of Conduct, and for our governors through the Governor Code of Conduct. Together, these frameworks help to foster a culture of kindness, respect, accountability and partnership across our school community.

We are also proud to have recently achieved the UNICEF Rights Respecting School Silver Award, recognising the work we have undertaken to embed children's rights, mutual respect and positive relationships throughout our school. This achievement reflects our ongoing commitment to ensuring that all members of our community feel valued, respected and heard.

To further strengthen these shared expectations, we are introducing a Parent Code of Conduct. Its purpose is to support positive, respectful and constructive relationships between families, staff, governors and all members of our school community.

The Parent Code of Conduct sits alongside our updated Home School Agreement, which highlights the important partnership between home and school in supporting every child's learning, wellbeing and development. Together, these documents set out the behaviours, responsibilities and values that help us work effectively and respectfully with one another.

We are grateful for the overwhelmingly positive support we receive from our parents and carers and recognise the vital role you play in the life of our school. The Parent Code of Conduct is intended to provide clarity and consistency in our expectations, helping to maintain the welcoming, respectful and nurturing environment that benefits everyone in our community.

Thank you for your continued partnership and for helping us uphold the values that make our school such a positive place to learn, work and grow.

Concerns or issues

If you would like to discuss any concerns or issues, please contact the school office in the first instance. If you wish to speak to the class teacher, please email admin@claremont.kent.sch.uk and we will forward it on your behalf. If you need further assistance with your concern we can also communicate this to pastoral leader. Please see the staff and governor page for details.
 

Communication Protocol

We work hard to ensure that communications are effective and useful. Communications occur continually throughout the school day. If you send an email, our office team will reply whenever possible. Any other emails are forwarded on to the relevant person. If you leave a voice message outside of the school day, the office team ensure that these are listened to as part of their early morning work to ensure no message is missed.

Emails
As you will be aware, teachers are not able to receive or respond to emails during the school day as they are teaching or planning for upcoming lessons. Other staff members, e.g., the SENCo, may be involved in professional meetings. Not having an immediate response can cause some frustrations or anxiety which is most certainly not our intention. Please know that we will endeavour to respond in a timely manner.

• If it is about a safeguarding concern, one of the DSLs will respond asap or you will be invited in.
• Daily business: If it is a general question/information about something that the office staff cannot answer e.g. homework or a class activity, we will aim to respond the same day or the following morning, where possible, in order to support the child. All communications about drop off and collection are passed onto the class teachers in person by the office team. Please endeavour to inform the office of any changes by midday.
• Other: If you would like to discuss/ask a question/seek guidance or help, about something to do with your child or a situation that is concerning you, the teacher, SENCo or SLT will need time to consider the communication carefully and, potentially, gather information in order to respond appropriately or organise a face-to-face meeting with you. This may take up to two full working days. If this is the case, we will endeavour to send a holding email to let you know. Please trust that there will be a response; approaching the teachers about the situation can be tricky to communicate effectively on the playground at pick up, and so would not be our preference.

Parents' consultation meetings

We hold parent consultation evenings for the whole school in terms 2 and 4.  Term 2 is a face to face meeting and Term 4 is a virtual meeting.  Information will come to all parents/carers in advance of the meetings to advise on timings and the online booking system.  Please see the school calendar for dates. Please click here for the online booking system.
 

Class WhatsApp groups

Many parents are members of a WhatsApp group that connect parents in a particular class. These group chats are set up by parents, for parents, to share information, receive updates and reminders about school events as well as share general advice. Teachers or other school representatives do not participate in these groups. To help keep these groups a positive environment, we have developed some guidelines that you may wish to keep in mind:
 

• Before writing, consider whether the group WhatsApp is the best forum to raise your point/question. Face to face may be best and if you have a specific query or concern, it may be better to raise this directly with the relevant parent, class teacher or, where necessary, a Pastoral Leader.
• When writing, remember that whatever you say on social media may be forwarded to someone else and can be quickly seen by many others.
• If your message is not relevant to the majority of group members, please consider if it is more appropriate to reply by way of a personal message.
• Consider the time you post. Early in the morning, late at night and during school holidays may not be appropriate.
• Consider whether what you're saying is essential for the purpose of the group. For example, the group may not be the appropriate place for private or confidential messages, to express personal opinions or gossip about children, other families or school staff. Remember any opinions expressed are the opinions of individual members and may not be representative of the whole group.