The day-to-day care, welfare and safety of your child is best managed by the person who is placed closest to them. We therefore request that parents and carers follow the protocol outlined below to ensure they get the best response to their enquiry or issue. Academic issues In the first instance, please contact the following members of staff who are responsible for your daughter in the following order: The Head of Faculty may choose to escalate the issue to a member of the Senior Leadership Team. Pastoral issues In the first instance, please contact the following members of staff who are responsible for your child in the following order: The Heads of Year may choose to escalate the issue to a member of the Senior Leadership Team. SEND matters For enquiries about SEND, please contact Simon Lister, Head of Learning Support (by emailing admin@bishophatfield.herts.sch.uk). Safeguarding Concerns If the concerns are of a Safeguarding nature then please send your concerns via email to admin@bishophatfield.herts.sch.uk and/or safeguarding@bishophatfield.herts.sch.uk making your concern FAO the Safeguarding Team. Administrative matters Administrative matters such as changes to contact details should be addressed to the School Office by telephoning Reception or emailing admin@bishophatfield.herts.sch.uk. Please note that teachers want to respond to parental queries at the earliest opportunity and will do their best to do so. However, the majority of teachers’ time is taken up teaching and preparing for lessons so they may be unable to respond to you on the day a query is made. We have also agreed with staff that there is no expectation to respond to queries during their personal/family time. Pupil absence text facility The school has a text facility for you to inform us if your child is absent or late. Every guardian is allocated their own individual contact number for text messages. You will receive a text message from the school when your child enrols at the school. Please save this number in your phone and use this number only to text the school if your child is unwell or has an urgent appointment. You must clearly state your child’s name and form before 9.15am on each day of absence and the reason for the absence. Requests for leave for medical appointments, instrumental exams etc should be made in writing with as much notice as possible. Please see the Attendance page of our website for more details of our policy and procedures. Student planner Communication by email or student planner are the preferred method: Telephone Please use the main reception number to leave a message for a teacher to contact you: Email If you need to contact staff directly, please email admin@bishophatfield.herts.sch.uk and mark your email For the Attention of [Name of Teacher/Head of Faculty]: Emails are a fast and efficient means of communication which offer many advantages. However, we ask parents and carers to consider the tone and implications of any message, as well as the length and frequency of communications. All communication should be polite and respectful as too often hastily sent emails or comments by an upset parent can cause great hurt or offence. Our staff put every effort into making school a positive experience for the girls and we do not wish to undermine this goodwill. We will not tolerate any form of abusive behaviour (physical, verbal or written) from parents/carers towards any member of our staff. Please see our Dealing With Abusive Parents policy for more information. Please refer to our Communications Policy (in About Us > Policies) for more information.Who to Contact
Both a list of Tutors and Heads of Year are available on the Pastoral Care Overview page of this website (in Parents)How to Contact the School
