Absence / Attendance

How can parents/carers help?
If your child is off school for any reason, please ring the school on 01332 880260 – Option 1 no later than 8.30am. We monitor students’ attendance and punctuality very closely and will follow up unexplained absences with parents/carers, by telephone or letter. If you have not notified us of your child’s absence you will be contacted. This is so that we know that your child is safe.

Illness
Please only keep your child at home for genuine illnesses, not minor ailments. If you are not sure, send them to school with a note and we will contact you if there is a problem. Please be aware that your child should not contact you directly via their mobile in order for you to collect them. The collection of your child will be arranged via Student Services.

Medical appointments
We ask, where possible, to arrange medical appointments for the end of the school day or during school holidays. However, we appreciate this is not always possible. If an appointment is during the school day, please send your child in with a note and ask them to visit Student Services at the time they need to leave school.  You will be able to collect your child from Reception.

Leave of absence (for holidays)
An absence for any reason interferes with students’ learning and progress. In addition, students’ exam results may be affected, they may miss important exams or assessments. No leave of absence will be granted during term time, except in exceptional circumstances. Family holidays should be taken during school holidays. Absence taken without authorisation will lead to your child having unauthorised absences and may lead to a Fixed Penalty Notice being issued by the Local Authority. If you feel there are exceptional circumstances that warrant an application, please write a letter to Mrs Harrison outlining the circumstances of your request. You will then be notified in writing of the Headteacher’s decision.

Attendance

Punctuality

Please ensure that your child arrives at school by 8.35am to enable them to be ready for line-up where they are greeted by both Miss Faulding and their Form Tutor.  During line-up important messages are relayed to our Year 7 students before proceeding to their form rooms or assembly.  The internal school gates are locked at 8.40am and any student arriving after this time has to sign in late at Reception.  If any student receives 3 late marks (registration or lesson) in one half term, they are sanctioned with a 30 minute after school detention.

Our school day ends at 3.20pm.

Q: When is the 2024 start date for Year 7?
A: Students start school on Thursday 5th September 2024.
Wednesday 4th September is an inset day.

Q: What happens on the first school day in September?
A: On the first day you need to arrive at school no later than 8:30am and then make your way to the canopy (where you gathered on your induction day). Your Form Tutor and Head of Year will meet you there and then you will be taken to your form room. You will then spend an hour with your Form Tutor and Tutor Group. During this time, you will be given your timetable which you will then follow for the rest of the day.

Q: Should students bring my PE kit to school on the first day?
A: On the first day you will receive your timetable and you will follow this throughout the day, however you will not be required to bring your PE kit.

Q: How are tutor groups decided?
A: Before students visit us for their induction days, we liaise with primary schools so we can best place them in the correct tutor group.  We make sure that each student is with at least other student from their primary school unless advised by the primary school.  If your child is the only student from their primary school but knows another student within the cohort, please inform Miss Faulding via the transition email no later than 1st April. Once the tutor groups have been formed, after a very lengthy process, these are final. Each tutor group will have a tutor who will get to know each student very well. They are your first port of call if you are having any problems that you need to talk about and will also celebrate any successes with you too.

Q: What do students do for lunch?
A: During your child’s first week with us, Year 7 are dismissed early from lesson 3 in order to have their lunch, whilst other year groups are still in lesson. This will then revert back to the normal timetable in the second week. This allows the Year 7 students to get into a routine at lunchtime, whether that is buying their lunch from the canteen or one of our two pods situated outside or finding somewhere to eat their packed lunch.

Q: My child is eligible for free school meals; how will the school canteen know?
A: If your child is entitled to free school meals, they will automatically receive a daily meal allowance of £2.60 added to their account each day.  If not spent, it does not rollover to the following day.

If you wish to apply for free school meals, please contact Derbyshire County Council. If you are eligible, Derbyshire County Council will inform the school to allow us to update our records.

Q: How do I set up a ParentPay account (cashless payment system)?
A: Parents/Carers will be issued with a letter detailing account login for their child. You will receive this letter in the post, prior to your child joining us in September.

We operate a cashless system in school which means money can be loaded onto ParentPay accounts or students can bring in cash to load onto the revaluation machine at school.

We strongly encourage you to set up your ParentPay account as this will also be required for payment of trips, equipment etc., throughout your child’s five years with us.

Q: Can my child’s thumb print (for use in the canteen) be used by any other agencies?
A: No, the software we use turns your child’s finger/thumb print into a mathematical algorithm. The image of the finger/thumb print is then discarded. The information stored cannot be used to recreate an image of the child’s finger/thumb print.

Q: What happens if my child is unwell throughout the school day?
A: If you child starts to feel unwell during the school day, they need to report to Student Services. They will be checked over and then you will be contacted where necessary to come and collect your child. Students must not ring home themselves to say they are unwell.

Q: Can my child bike to school?
A: No. With the school situated on a busy main road, we do not allow students to bike to school for safety reasons.

Q: How much homework will my child get?
A: Your child can expect to receive regular homework. On average they should get a couple of pieces of homework per night, Parents/Carers/Students can log in to Class Charts to view all homework set with deadlines.  You will receive your Class Charts login once students join us in September.

Q: What Modern Foreign Language will my child learn?
A: We are committed to inspiring our students to develop their knowledge, understanding and love of other cultures through the Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) programmes of study. We expect most students to choose a language to study as one of their GCSE courses and so we would like them to have an element of choice in this language as they progress through the school. 

Before joining John Flamsteed Community School in September, your Head of Year and Form Tutors would love to get to know you more. We would like to encourage you to create a PowerPoint, Word document, poster or email telling us about yourself. We would like you to title it ‘All About Me’ and to include as many interesting things about yourself. Below are suggestions of information you could include:

• Do you have any pets?
• What are your hobbies?
• What is your favourite subject?
• What are you most looking forward to about secondary school?
• Is there anything you are worried about?

Once you have completed your ‘All About Me’ work, please email it to: transitions@jfcs.org.uk for your Head of Year and Form Tutor to read.

The facility for individual or group tuition on musical instruments is currently available to all our students.  There is a cost involved with this extra curricular tuition paid direct to the relevant visiting music teacher.

Please complete all three of the following forms. If you have any queries regarding these forms, please email: transitions@jfcs.org.uk

We would be grateful if you could complete these by Friday 24th May 2024.

• Student Information Form
• Student Consent
• Annual Consent for Local Visits/Sporting Activities

A strong waterproof bag is recommended when starting secondary school. You should be able to fit an A4 folder into your bag. A pencil case should consist of:.

• Black/blue pen (more than one for when it runs out)
• 2 pencils
• 30cm ruler
• Glue Stick
• Eraser
• 2B Pencil for Art
• Set of coloured pencils
• Highlighter
• Reading book (this can also be loaned from our school library)
• Scientific Calculator (Casio is preferred) This is an essential piece of equipment for maths and science lessons and will be used all the way through until Y11 so students are trained using the Casio calculator

These pieces of equipment should be brought into school every day.

Please click here to view our School Uniform and PE Kit

Catering

I would like to formally introduce myself to you. My name is Mr Scott Caulton and I am the Catering Manager at John Flamsteed Community School. I am responsible for providing a nutritious and well-balanced meal along with my team of experienced catering staff.

I have worked in catering for several years and I pride myself in using home cooked fresh ingredients including making our own cakes and cookies on a daily basis. We try and use organic produce wherever possible.

We offer a variety of vegetarian options and can cater for all your child’s needs including those relating to allergens, diabetics, nut allergies etc. Should your child have any special dietary requirements please complete the relevant section on the admission form.

Meals in secondary schools are very different to primary schools. Firstly, there are three different service times, so food will be available at:

• 8am – 8.30am Breakfast
• 11.05am – 11.30am Morning break
• 12.30pm – 1.15pm Lunch time

Breakfast and Morning break the system is grab and go, we also have sandwich pods which offer a grab and go system. This will be open for break and lunch and offers a selection of sandwiches, healthy snacks and drinks.

Lunch is served similar to a café; this means that you will choose from a selection of hot food and drinks.

During lunch most food items are available as a meal deal for £2.60 which includes a main meal or sandwich, dessert and a drink.

Alternatively, all items can be bought individually. The method of payment is different to primary schools. We operate on a cashless system which means money can be loaded onto Parentpay or cash can be loaded onto the revaluation machines at school.

If you are entitled to free school meals you will automatically get a daily meal allowance of £2.60 added to your account for you to spend throughout the day. Any questions about free school meals please contact Derbyshire County Council.

We hope you enjoy your meal at John Flamsteed and if there is any question please ask the catering team.

Menu example

Monday
British Farm Assured Chicken and Bacon Pie
Vegetarian option available
Served with potatoes and seasonal vegetables
Apple strudel and custard, fresh fruit or yoghurt

Tuesday
Organic Tomato and Basil Meatballs & spaghetti
Vegetarian bake
Both served with seasonal vegetables
Sticky toffee sponge and custard or fresh fruit

Wednesday
Roast dinner day with all the trimmings
Vegetarian option available
Both served with roast potatoes, mash and seasonal vegetables
Cornflake tart and custard, yoghurt or fresh fruit

Thursday
British Farm Assured Chicken Curry
Vegetable curry
Both served with Garlic and coriander naan bread and sunshine rice
Double chocolate sponge cake or fresh fruit

Friday
Fish of the day
Quorn dippers
Both served with chips and a choice of gravy, garden peas and beans
Carrot muffin, fresh fruit or yogurt

Cashless Biometric System

We currently use a Biometric System as part of our school catering service. This is a cashless payment system for all meals, drinks and snacks purchased in school. Each student will have their own personal account from which payments can be taken whenever food or drinks are purchased in the school canteen. On your child’s induction days they will be asked to provide a fingerprint (if you have given your consent via the student information sheet included) to set up their account on the biometric based computer system. Once an account has been created the computer software converts the fingerprint into a machine-readable code made up of letters and numbers. Once this alpha-numeric code has been created the fingerprint image is no longer required and so it is automatically destroyed by the system. The database which the system creates and uses comprises the student’s name and the code generated from their fingerprint and not their actual fingerprint. I would like to stress that this biometric code cannot be used by any other agency.

The system will then enable your child to pay into their account at a ‘paying in’ point or via parent pay (further details on how to access your child’s account will be issued to you at a later date). Once authorisation has been given by placing their finger on a scanner, this then identifies the student’s name, form and their current cash balance held on the system. The selected food/drink items will be entered into the system via an itemised keyboard; the amount and the new cash balance will show on a display so the student knows exactly how much they have spent and how much money they have left. Parents can request a daily ‘spend limit’ per day which can be increased or decreased by making a written request to enquiries@jfcs.org.uk

Please note that we do not allow or encourage any students to pay for or indeed lend any money to another student for their meals or snacks. This will be supervised by the catering team and will be reported should there be an incident of this nature. Should your child forget or run out of money in their account they will need to speak to Student Services.  Your child does not have to go without a meal or drink and one will be provided. However, please ensure any outstanding monies are paid the following day in order to keep their account up to date.

The use of mobile phones on our school grounds is not allowed during our school day and will be confiscated if your child is found using it without permission. The phone will be handed into Student Services/Reception for safe keeping until the end of the school day. A parent/carer may be asked to collect the phone if this happens multiple times.

However, if a student does bring their mobile phone into school it must be switched off and kept in their bag at all times and not used for any reason on the school premises. Their phone may only be used once the student has left the school grounds.

Should parents wish to contact students in an emergency they can contact the main switchboard on 01332 880260 and a message will get to your child.

The school will not accept liability for the theft, damage or loss of any mobile phones or valuables.

Please click here to view Dates and Times

Please click here to view the bus timetables.

At John Flamsteed Community School we have a dedicated Librarian who loves to help students find the perfect books for them. Below are book suggestions for students to read if they find reading challenging or are reluctant to read.

Below are book suggestions for students who are confident readers.