Windlesham School

Policies

Policy Statement

1. Safeguarding: Nothing is more important than the safety of the children entrusted to our care, both when on-site and on off-site visits. We maintain a robust and comprehensive set of procedures to ensure that risks are minimised and regulatory requirements met; many of these apply equally to adults on-site. However, children will not learn to manage risk if they are cocooned so we encourage mildly risky activities such as tree climbing. Our procedures are subject to regular independent inspection and audit.

2. Finance: We are a charity so we do not need to make a profit but in order to be able to develop the facilities of the school we aim for a surplus of around 10% of fees. Our charitable purpose is to widen access to education of the type offered at Windlesham both by bursaries, for which we maintain a fund, and by offering support to state educational institutions.

3. Governance: We adopt, and aim also to lead, best practice in Governance among independent schools, charities and similar organisations. The Governors aim fully to meet their responsibilities for the activities of the school without interfering with the Headmaster’s executive control.

4. Staff: To maintain a successful and happy school we must have talented staff who instinctively agree with our approach and who are committed to and enjoy what they do. We therefore adopt staff recruitment and management practices to bring out the best in our people. We pay staff reasonably well and give them a lot of freedom and encourage their initiatives.

5. Admissions: Windlesham welcomes all children, regardless of background, belief or ethnicity, who will benefit from our ethos of providing a well-rounded education with exceptional pastoral care and opportunities for developing many talents. We do not select on the basis of academic attainment but on potential as determined by interview, informal assessment and references.

6. Teaching and Learning: At Windlesham academic excellence is at the core of everything we do. Every child is encouraged and given the freedom to fulfil his or her potential, whether for an academic, sporting, art or music scholarship, or to assimilate the curriculum confidently.

7. Welfare and Boarding: Boarding life at Windlesham is comfortable, cosy, happy and fun. We provide a strong family atmosphere amongst the children and the Houseparents which allows them to develop independence, a strong understanding of community and gives them friends for life. Our pupils have the freedom to learn to love life.

8. Activities: At Windlesham we aim to provide children with the opportunity to take part in an extremely wide range of activities. This allows them to try many things, to find out what they are good at and enjoy. This is important for a happy childhood, for personal development, for self-confidence and to support academic work.

9. Catering and Food Hygiene: At Windlesham we provide a balanced variety of nutritious food and encourage children to develop healthy eating habits for life, with a good understanding of food and nutrition. We meet the needs of active, growing children and young people who require plenty of wholesome food and regular meals.

10. Cleaning and Maintenance: Our staff, our children, their parents and visitors are all entitled to expect that our premises and grounds are kept clean and in good repair. We have comprehensive systems and procedures to ensure appropriate standards.

11. Behaviour: To maintain discipline we lay great emphasis on a comprehensive system of positive rewards and we have an equivalent set of sanctions if required. We aim to be consistent and fair. Members of staff are expected to use common sense, discretion and flexibility at all times in ensuring good discipline.

12. Anti-bullying: Windlesham is committed to providing a caring, friendly and safe environment for all our children so that they may learn and thrive in a relaxed and secure atmosphere. Bullying in any of its guises is not tolerated. Any bullying will be dealt with as a matter of greatest importance.

13. Taking, storing and use of images: Parents who accept a place for their child at the school are invited to agree to the school using anonymous photographs and video of their child and information relating to his or her achievements for promotional purposes, which may be used in school publicity. This forms part of the Parent’s Contract.

14. IT and e-safety: At Windlesham IT is an integral part of day to day life rather than a separately taught subject. We aim for our children to be “digital natives”. We have robust systems in place to keep children safe while using technology at school and we educate them in avoiding danger while using the internet elsewhere.

15. Drugs and Drug Testing: The normal sanction for possession of drugs is expulsion. Any pupil found offering drugs to another pupil will be expelled and the matter might be referred to the police.

16. Collective Worship: At Windlesham we expect all children to attend assemblies. The School’s All Saints chapel lies at the heart of the School, both in the literal and figurative sense and one of the most crucial aspects of the school’s provision is the moral and religious education which the children receive. Our worship is essentially Anglican but the overall approach is broadly inter-denominational and is led by members of staff or visiting speakers. On Sundays when our Boarders attend chapel in School, the Catholic members of our community are able to opt to go to a local Catholic church to celebrate mass. Parents from non-Christian backgrounds are welcome to discuss individual provision for their children with the Head and they may be excused from religious worship. Alternative arrangements will be made for them for that part of the assembly.

17. Complaints, feedback and surveys: We need to ensure that we act in line with the wishes of parents, children and the community at large. To that end we welcome feedback to which we respond in a structured way. We also instigate surveys to assess the views of parents and other interest groups.

18. Crisis management: The school should be capable of satisfactorily managing crises, particularly those affecting boarders’ welfare, and we maintain planned responses to a range of foreseeable incidents such as outbreaks of illness, fires, serious allegations or complaints or significant accidents.

Windlesham Policy documents:

pdf download - Windlesham Policy document Child Protection Policy