Key Information & Resources

Regular and punctual attendance at school is essential to every child’s education. If a child is unable to attend school because of ill health or any other reason, we ask parents to telephone the school office or send in a letter on the first day of absence. It is also important that families give us prior warning if children need to be collected during school hours for dental or medical appointments, etc.

This can also be done by phoning the school office. The Department for Education require us to keep very detailed records of attendance in school. In particular, we are asked to give details of any unauthorised absences i.e. those, which are not explained by a parent or carer. We work closely with Clennell Education Solutions Attendance Officers and the Local Authority to closely monitor the attendance of our children and provide support and guidance to our families if appropriate.

We would strongly urge our families to avoid taking holidays during term times in order to ensure that our children have the fullest access to their education. Since September 2013, holidays taken within term time are not permitted by the government and parents / carers can be fined by the local authority if they choose to do this for 5 days or more in an academic year.

In exceptional circumstances, leave of absences may be granted by the Head Teacher, but this is strictly down to his discretion and judgement of the circumstances. Parents must request a meeting with the Head Teacher if they are intending on taking their children out of school and feel that their circumstances would warrant a leave of absence.

A leave of absence request form must also be completed. A leave of absence taken without completing a request form or without receiving the Head Teacher’s permission will be deemed as an unauthorised absence. This then is reported to Newcastle Civic Centre by computer data transfer and follow up action may be taken.

As well as regular attendance in school, punctuality is also really important. Our dedicated staff work really hard to pack an awful lot in to the school day and if pupils are consistently late, a lot of learning time is lost and pupils can fall behind. In addition to this, we would also request that parents and carers are punctual when collecting their children from school – We do understand that sometimes things happen (cars break down, emergencies take place) and this means that parents

might be a few minutes late for collection - If this is the case, we would appreciate a phone call to the school office so that parents can explain the situation to us.

In instances where a parent or carer is late for collection by more than 5-10 minutes, children are taken along to our school office where they are chaperoned by our office staff. This does mean that our office staff are not able to complete the many jobs which they need to get done in the day and will often need to work overtime to get these tasks completed which school need to pay them for. It is for this reason that our families who are consistently late to collect their children at the end of the school day will incur a charge on ParentPay.

You can see details of these late collection charges in our Attendance and Punctuality Policy. & First aid and administering medications policy

It is absolutely essential that we have up to date records of addresses, telephone numbers, places of employment and means of contacting families in the case of an emergency. Please keep us informed of any change to your contact details, since we may have to contact you urgently in the case of accident or illness.

NHS guidelines state that parents and carers must keep their child off school for at least 48 hours if they have been sick or suffered from diarrhoea in order to prevent nasty bugs and illnesses from spreading around school. If in doubt please contact the school office and staff will advise you on whether your child should come back to school.

Medication is permitted on the school premises but must be handed over by an adult to one of the schools’ first aid trained staff and a medical form must be completed.

All prescribed medication must have the name of the child clearly labelled on the box with detailed instructions for administering the medication. An official pharmacy label is required, otherwise school staff are not permitted to administer this to children.

Parents must sign a form and get the Head Teacher’s approval prior to medication being administered. All children who have medication for long term conditions in school e.g. epipens or jextpens, asthma inhalers or cortisone creams etc should have a medical care plan and parents must sign a consent form for us to administer this in school. Again, names and dosage information etc must be clearly visible on the box. It is the responsibility of parents of children who are on long-term

medication which is held in school to ensure that it is within the expiry date and that this is replaced

when necessary – School can not take any responsibility for this.

Parents and carers must inform school about any children who have any specific dietary requirements, allergies or medical conditions (eg nut allergies, diabetes or febrile convulsions etc). These pupils will need a medical care plan and kitchen staff and school staff must be made aware of these so that we can ensure that we keep these children safe under our care. If your child’s condition changes, it is the responsibility of parents / carers to keep school up to date so that we can

update your child’s records and adapt our provision accordingly.

Please see Attendance and Punctuality Policy, First Aid and Administering Medication Policy and Supporting Pupils with Medical Conditions Policy

From September 2014 all pupils from Reception to Year 2 have been entitled to a free school meal (‘universal free school meals’). If families still wish to send their children to school with a packed lunch from home, this is also permitted. Children eligible for ‘Pupil Premim’ are also entitled to a free school meal, whichever key stage in school that they are in. You can see if your family is eligible

for Pupil Premium through accessing this link: https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals

For pupils in Key Stage 2 who have to pay for a school meal, payment must be made using our online ‘ParentPay’ system. Parents and carers can transfer a balance of money to cover the costs of school meals on to this system. This system can be accessed on a smartphone, tablet or desktop computer.

The current cost of a school meal for pupils in Key Stage 2 is £3.00 per child, per day. Please note that if families get in to debt of more than £50.00 for school meal payments, we will contact you via letter or phone call to give a gentle reminder for payment or to see if we can offer our families any support.

Children are allowed to bring a packed lunch from home if parents and carers would prefer to provide this. If parents and carers would like to change a child from school lunch to packed lunch, or vice versa, we would appreciate some advance warning of this (at least a week if possible) so that the kitchen staff can order and prepare the correct amount of lunches and to ensure that we minimise food waste.

We do have a number of children in school who have severe allergies, some to nuts or, nut products, so consequently, nuts or nut products are not allowed in school under any circumstances, either in school meals or packed lunches, as they could be life threatening to some of our pupils. We would ask for the support of our whole school community to adhere to these rules please to make surethat all of our children are kept safe.

We register all of our children who come into our Nursery and Reception classes to have free milk in school every day (parents can opt out of this for their child if they wish). A company called ‘Cool Milk’ provide this service for us – You can see their website here: www.coolmilk.com

All pupils receive free milk until their 5 th birthday. After the children are 5, they can still have access to milk every day all the way through school, but parents and carers need to pay for this – This is done through the ‘Cool Milk’ website. For any of our pupils who have intolerances or allergies to cows milk, parents are welcome to provide a dairy-free alternative (oat milk, soya milk etc) which we will happily store in school and provide to your child at an appropriate time of the school day.

Foods and produce for our school lunches are currently provided to us by Newcastle Council and we are continually reviewing options to ensure that healthy choices are provided for our children. Every day there are a range of choices for hot food, including jacket potatoes and different vegetables, as well as sandwiches and a fresh salad bar which the children can choose from. We also teach our children to make healthy food choices as much as possible as part of our PSHE curriculum.

Please see our South Gosforth 1st Winter Pictorial Menu - Sep 26 to Feb 27.pdf & our Allergen Information Winter 2026

 If your child has allergies and you require a copy of the ingredients for the new menu, please email admin@sgfs.uk and request a copy of the allergen information and we will send this to you.  

Nursery & Reception Uniform

• A red sweatshirt or cardigan with new grey owl logo (or plain equivalent)
• A white polo shirt with new red owl logo (or plain equivalent)
• Plain black shorts / skirt
• Black leggings / jogging bottoms
• Suitable footwear (preferably black trainers)
• A red fleece with new grey owl logo - For outdoor use only (optional)
• A red waterproof coat with new grey owl logo - For outdoor use only (optional)

• A red sweatshirt or cardigan with new grey owl logo (or plain equivalent)
• A white polo shirt with new red owl logo (or plain equivalent)
• Grey trousers / skirt / pinafore
• Black school shoes (no trainers or open toed shoes will be permitted)
• A red gingham dress or grey shorts during the warmer months
• A red fleece with new grey owl logo - For outdoor use only (optional)
• A red waterproof coat with new grey owl logo - For outdoor use only (optional)
• Red book bag with grey logo

• Plain black shorts
• Black leggings / jogging bottoms in the colder months
• A red round-neck t-shirt with grey owl logo (or plain equivalent)
• Black trainers or plimsolls
• Red P.E. bag with grey logo

We do have recommended providers who stock either our branded uniform, or uniform which is in our school colours. These are: 

• "Emblematic" in Longbenton - https://emblematic.co.uk/longbenton-store/sgfs
• "School Trends" - https://www.schooltrends.co.uk/uniform/SouthGosforthFirstSchoolNE31YF
• "Ciel" on Gosforth High Street - https://www.cielschooluniform.co.uk

Parents and Carers may also choose to shop at other local stores – These uniform items may not have our school logo, but providing that they are in our school colours, they are still appropriate.

You can also visit the Community School Clothing Scheme in North Shields for FREE used and pre loved uniform. The scheme is also always grateful for any donations! Please check their Facebook page for opening times and further information https://www.facebook.com/communityschoolclothingscheme/

We would strongly urge all Parents and Carers to label all uniform items as it is extremely difficult to return lost property to children if items are not clearly labelled.

View Our School Policy Here: Uniform Policy