Home School Agreement

Parents are requested to meet the School's commitment to the education of its pupils, by undertaking reasonable responsibilities to help their child(ren) to achieve success at Barking Abbey.

The following 'Agreement' seeks to summarise our joint commitment. We ask all parents of incoming children to confirm their assent and, with the school's representative, sign the Agreement.

The relationship between you as parents and the school is extremely important for the development of your child throughout the school. The commitments outlined below will work within this vital partnership. It is, however, equally important that all parents understand that the responsibility for their child's education rests by law with them. The school will do all it can to help you in this task.

Barking Abbey School makes the following commitment to its parents and pupils:

    1. Barking Abbey will provide a curriculum which will meet the needs and abilities of your child.

    2. Barking Abbey undertakes to inform you as soon as possible of any issues in relation to your child.

    3. Barking Abbey will provide a wide range of extra-curricular activities which will improve the quality of your child's experience of the school.

    4. Barking Abbey will work with you in developing your child's personal and social skills in order for them to play a full and positive role in society.

Barking Abbey expects the following commitment from its parents and pupils.

    1. My child will attend school for 100% of each year, unless there are exceptional medical or personal reasons why this is not possible. She/he will be punctual for both morning and afternoon sessions. I, as a parent will ensure that my daughter or son will attend school in the full school uniform at all times, and bring all necessary equipment to lessons.

    2. I shall endeavour to ensure that my child continues her or his education beyond the age of 16. This includes one or more of the following: the school sixth form; employment with related education; colleges of Further or Higher Education, Universities or employment with related education.

    3. I as a parent will support the work of my child by: 

      • providing an area at home where homework can be completed;
      • attending parents' evenings or consultations;
      • informing the school of any difficulty my child is experiencing in connection with her or his school career.
      • encouraging my child to extend their experience by taking part in extra-curricular activities.
    4. I and my child will support the school's high standards of conduct, behaviour and commitment to learning and agree to support the decisions made by the staff, Headteacher and Governors of the school.

    5. I and my child agree to support the school's extra-curricular activities, including the work of the Parents' Association.

All parent(s)/guardian(s) are asked to sign this agreement with the school.

SCHOOL RULES

It is quite impossible to run any large society without a certain number of rules. Ours are based on common sense and demand that we respect other people and their property. These rules are explained to the students in their first weeks at Barking Abbey.

In particular we would draw parents' attention to the fact that pupils should not bring valuable items to school (coats, jewellery, watches, large sums of money, electronic games, transistors, mobile telephones, personal hi-fi, etc.) as neither the school nor the Local Authority will accept responsibility for them.

DISCIPLINE

To a great extent pupils are encouraged to develop sensible and reasonable self-discipline.

a) REWARDS: Positive performance requires reinforcement and encouragement. Merit Marks, Certificates and notification to parents comprise some of the rewards used at Barking Abbey.

b) SANCTIONS: Occasionally it is necessary to detain children after school and teachers may keep children for up to 20 minutes without warning. In more serious cases if children are to be detained for a longer period of time, twenty-four hours' notice will be given to parents. Pupils may be detained during breaks in the school day. It may be appropriate to issue extra work, place pupils 'on report' or, on rare occasions, to exclude pupils from lessons or, with the Headteacher's approval, full exclusion. The School adheres to the regulations regarding pupil exclusions.