Arrival and Dismissal Policy

Plans and Policies

Arrival and Dismissal of Pupils Policy

Context

Under the Provisions of the Education Act 1998, and the regulations of the Department of Education and Skills, the Board of Management is the body charged with the direct governance of a school.

The overall responsibility for the day to day management of school supervision rests with the Principal teacher.

Circular 18/03: “Rules 121(4) and 124(1) of the Rules for National Schools and Section 23(2) of the Education Act 1998 oblige teachers to take all reasonable precautions to ensure the safety of pupils and to participate in supervising pupils when the pupils are on school premises, during school time and/or on school activities. Accordingly, the responsibility of all teachers individually and collectively to provide a duty of care at all times towards the children in the school in which they teach, including periods of supervision, is not changed.”

Rationale

All schools must take reasonable care for the safety of pupils when the pupils are under their charge. This applies not only to periods during break or playtime but also to the periods between the pupils' arrival at school and the start of the school day and from dismissal in the afternoon until, for example, the school bus leaves.

Arrival Procedure

Pupils whose surname begins with A – Ha should arrive at school from 9:05am to 9:15am. Pupils whose surname begins with He – Z should arrive at school from 9:15am – 9:25am.
Parents should not enter the school ground.
One teacher will be at the main gate and one teacher at the lower gate to welcome pupils. One SNA will be at the main gate also and one SNA on the basketball court to guide pupils to the back of the school.
Pupils in Junior Infants to Second Class will enter the school via the main gate
Pupils in 3rd class – 6thclass will enter the school via the lower gate.
Pupils will walk directly to their classroom
Teachers will be in the classroom to welcome the pupils

Dismissal Procedure

The school day finishes for Junior Infants and Senior Infants at 2pm.
The Junior Infant teacher will accompany the class to the benches at the side of the basketball court. Children will indicate to the teacher who is bringing them home. The parents/guardians or a nominated collector will collect the child.
The Senior Infant teacher will accompany the class to the hill area at the back of the basketball court. Children will say indicate to the teacher who is bringing them home. The parents/guardians or a nominated collector will collect the child.
On wet days, the Junior and Senior Infant pupils will remain in the classroom and parents/those nominated to collect pupils can collect pupils from the classroom exit door at the back of the school.
At 2:50pm the school bell will ring. Pupils with surnames beginning with A- Ha will exit the school buildind via the classroom exit door. Pupils in 1st and 2nd class will exit via the main gate. Pupils in 3rd – 6th class will exit via the lower gate.
One teacher will supervise the main gate and one teacher will supervise the lower gate.

One SNA will supervise the basketball court, one the main gate and one the lower gate.
At 2:55pm the bus bell will ring. All pupils travelling on the mini bus and the big bus will exit their classrooms via the classroom exit door and walk to the main gate. The will exit via the main gate and board the buses once supervising teacher has given permission.
At 3:00pm the school bell will ring and pupils whose surname begins with He – Z will exit the school via the classroom exit door and walk to their relevant exit gate as described above.
The principal will prepare a supervision rota for the teachers.
Parents/Guardians will walk to the school gate to collect their child/children. Pupils will remain inside the school gate and indicate to the teachers who they will leave with.
Teachers will remain at the school gate until 3:10pm to supervise pupils, after which time teachers and pupils yet to be collected will wait at the main door of the school.
Children may only be collected by a parent/guardian or other nominated person.
Where a child is going home from school with a different adult, the parent/guardian must write a note to the class teacher or in emergencies phone the school office to inform school management of same.

Parents can support the safe Arrival and Dismissal of pupils by:

parking responsibly
collecting younger children from the rear of the school
ensuring children are not dropped at the school too early or collected too late

Early closures

On occasion, the school day will finish early for pupils.
Traditionally, the school day finishes at 12noon on the day before the Christmas holidays and the day before the summer holidays.
The school day will finish early for pupils to facilitate staff meetings one day each term. Pupils will leave school at 1:45pm (Infants and siblings), the bus departs at 1:50pm and all other pupils will leave school at 1:55pm.
The Department of Education and Skills may also from time to time instruct schools to close early to facilitate staff training.
On days where pupils are away from school on outings or school tours, their arrival and dismissal times may vary. Parents will be informed in advance of any changes to arrival and dismissal times.

Please note

Supervision begins at 9:05am. The Board of Management accepts no responsibility for pupils before 9:05am and pupils should not be on the school premises before this time.

Ratification and Review

This policy was ratified by the Board of Management on 7th March 2018.

This policy was reviewed in September 2020 in light of staggered arrivals and collections due to Covid 19.

Fr. Sean Devereux

Chairperson, Board of Management