Richard Alibon Primary School

Richard Alibon is a friendly, caring school community committed to achieving the highest standards and sharing the success of each individual. While we are a large school, every child is important to us. We want all our children to have a strong voice. We want each child to be safe and happy at school, to grow in confidence and reach their highest potential both academically and also as a citizen within our community. We want to ensure that each child has a real sense of ambition about what they can and want to achieve. Sometimes learning can be difficult but we aim to instil in each child a sense of perseverance and the determination to do well and overcome any difficulties. We work hard to ensure that all our children become increasingly confident during their time with us and return to school eagerly each day; it is important for us that our children enjoy their time at school; happiness is one of our core school values.

The school office manages admissions into the nursery while admissions into reception and the school are managed by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.Children can be admitted into our nursery, the September following their third birthday. Our nursery offers the 15 statutory hours a week; that is a morning or afternoon session of three hours each day when the school is open during term time.

Children will be admitted into the reception class on a full-time basis the September following their 4th birthday. Admissions into reception and the main school are managed by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. The link to the school admissions page can be found below. Admissions can be made online or in person at the One Stop Shop. The One Stop Shop is based in Dagenham Library on the Heathway near Dagenham Heathway Tube Station.If you would like your child to attend Richard Alibon Primary School please follow the link below to the Borough School Admissions webpage. It will help you choose the correct admissions form and there is a telephone help line should you need advice or want to talk to someone in person.

Rainbow is the name we give to our classrooms for children who have a place in our Additionally Rescourced Provision. This caters for 20 children with complex learning needs. Places to this Resource are allocated by the Local Authority and not the school. These web pages show you what we do, what we teach and provide other useful information for parents, carers and professionals.

The policies which we think will be of most use to you as parents, carers and professionals are listed below. Paper copies are available from the school office. These will be provided free to parents, carers and prospective parents. A paper copy of any other information on our website can also be provided free to parents on request.

Our Additionally Resourced Provision for children with moderate to severe learning difficulties and complex needs.We are proud to have our Additional Resource Provision for children with moderate to severe learning difficulties and complex needs. Known as our Rainbow Class, it is a centre of excellence on which our own staff and those in other schools can draw. The 20-place resource meets the needs of pupils from Reception through to 11 years of age and is staffed by specialist teachers and a range of support staff.All the children in the ARP have statements of special educational needs/ Education Health Care Plans and places are allocated by the local education authority. Usually parents of a child who may be suitable for a place are referred to us for an initial discussion about suitability from either an educational psychologist or school special needs co-ordinator.

At Richard Alibon Primary School we are committed to keeping all children safe both in and out of school.We ensure robust, effective safeguarding procedures are in place to support families, children and staff at school. Our safeguarding policy outlines our specific procedures and ways of working and our child protection policy demonstrates how we respond to children at immediate risk of significant harm.

We will discuss any child protection concerns we may have with parents/carers prior to contacting outside agencies, however, in situations where a child is suspected to be at increased risk of harm by doing so, the law says that schools may take advice from other agencies without informing parents/carers.The law requires all school staff to pass on information which gives rise to a concern about a child’s welfare, including risk from neglect, physical, emotional or sexual abuse. As part of their job descriptions, all members of staff must respond to any child protection concerns they have and pass on this information quickly. These concerns will be swiftly managed by trained and experienced leaders. To do this, we work in partnership with social services.

Our Governors are a group of people who work together, in the best interests of the children, parents and staff. They meet twice a term, although occasionally there are smaller meetings of sub committees. The Board of Governors was reconstituted in January 2014 and it was decided not to have sub committees but to do all the work where possible through the two meetings of the whole Board each term.

Governors and school staff have a responsibility to avoid any conflict between the interests of the school and their business and personal interests and their memberships of any other governing bodies or academy trusts.

Our Governing Board demonstrates it is managing potential conflicts by maintaining a register of interests. In order to be SFVS (Schools Financial Value Standard) compliant, our register is maintained for governors, senior staff and staff involved in procurement. The purpose of declaring such interests is to enable the governing body to put controls in place to ensure there is no conflict between a governor or staff member’s private interest and the school’s interests.This register sets out any relationships between governors and members of the school staff including spouses, partners and relatives. Senior Staff and staff involved in procurement also declare relationships with other members of staff or consultants to enable adequate safeguards to be put in place. The definition of a relative includes spouse, partner, parent, parents-in-law, son, daughter, step-son, stepdaughter, child of a partner, brother, sister, grandparent, grandchild, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece.

Richard Alibon is a member of the Tollgate Teaching School Alliance is an alliance of over 30 schools that include Early Years Settings, Children’s Centres, and Primary Schools. The Alliance has the capacity to offer high quality support for teachers and leaders at all stages in their career. It has National Leaders of Education leading schools and Local Leaders of Education. Many of its school leaders are trained Ofsted Inspectors and the Alliance has widespread capacity to outreach and support schools’ development needs. The Tollgate Teaching Alliance also has about 40 Specialist Leaders of Education.