Pastoral

At Prince's Mead, exceptional pastoral care ensures every child feels valued, supported, and able to thrive. Effective communication between staff, pupils, and parents underpins our approach. We have a School Matron on duty at all times during the day and children are welcome to visit Matron’s room if they are not feeling well. Families are encouraged to meet with Matron for any specific health needs that you would like to bring to the attention of the school. Matron is a key figure in the pastoral care of the children and coordinates all matters relating to the health and well-being of the children including school visits and trips.

Reporting Illness

If your child is ill, please email Matron (matron@princesmeadschool.org.uk) or call the School Reception (01962 888000). If your child has a tummy bug, please do not bring him or her in for at least 48 hours after the vomiting or diarrhoea has ceased. We must be notified if your child has an infectious disease. View our Childhood Illness Guidelines for Disease Management and School Attendance if you are unsure whether to send your child into school.

Wellbeing

Learning for Life lessons build resilience, confidence, and essential life skills, whilst initiatives like Friendship Fridays and Matey Mondays encourage social connections. Our buddy system pairs older pupils with younger ones for guidance and support, which in turn helps the older pupils develop problem-solving and leadership skills. Our PAT (Pets As Therapy) school dog, Monty, offers comfort and encouragement, particularly to those needing a confidence boost. For children requiring extra emotional support, one-to-one ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) and Counsellor sessions help children to understand their emotions and build their confidence and self-esteem.

Infection & Disease Control

In cases of contagious diseases, e.g. impetigo, your child should not be at school until they have started prescribed antibiotics and have sought guidance from Matron. If a child has been exposed to any infection at any time within three weeks before the date appointed for joining the school, immediate notice of the facts must be sent to Matron, and the child must not be sent to school until the Headmaster’s permission has been obtained.

In the event of an outbreak of Diphtheria or Poliomyelitis, the school reserves the right to send home immediately any child who has not been vaccinated or immunised against these diseases. This also applies to children who have not had their measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination.

A note will be sent home whenever a case of head lice is discovered in your child’s class. Please remain vigilant about checking your child’s hair.

Recommended Routine Immunisation

The school should be informed of any immunisation carried out at home during a child’s school career to ensure we maintain a full and accurate record.

Medical & Dental Appointments

It is best for parents to make medical appointments for their children outside of school hours. If a pupil must leave school during the day, for any reason, then please submit an ‘Application for Leave of Absence’ form ensuring sufficient notice is given.

Accident Reporting

All bumps to the head, no matter how minor, are recorded and parents will be contacted. Depending upon the severity of the bump, relevant information may also be provided on what to look out for. Parents will always be contacted in cases of more serious accidents or injuries.

Medicines

All medicines brought into school must be clearly labelled with a pharmacy label detailing the contents and the name of the child. You must complete a ‘Medication Administration’ form stating medicine, times to be administered and dosage. Below are a few guidelines regarding prescription medicines:

Short-term prescription requirements should only be brought to school if it is detrimental to the child’s health not to have the medicine during the school day.
The school will not administer medicines that have not been prescribed by a doctor, dentist, nurse prescriber or pharmacist prescriber other than approved over the counter (OTC) medications such as Calpol or Piriton.
The school will not accept medicines that have been taken out of the container as originally dispensed, nor make changes to prescribed dosages.
Instructions for administration must be supplied.
It is against school policy for pupils to keep any medication on them, apart from asthma inhalers and EpiPens, unless they have undergone a medication risk assessment, carried out by the medical staff, in order to self-medicate.

Allergies or Serious Illness

If your child has had any allergies or serious illnesses, please state this clearly in the ‘Medical Questionnaire’ (which will be sent to you before your child starts school). Those children with asthma should have a spare inhaler in school. Those children who require an EpiPen must have four on site, two in Matron's office and a further two to be carried by the pupil (or teacher in the case of Pre-Prep). Any new health concerns should be reported to Matron.

Nut Allergies

We are a nut-free school. We ask for your help in providing a safe environment for our pupils who have a severe nut allergy. Reactions to nuts, especially peanuts, are generally more severe than reactions to other foods and these can be triggered through skin contact or even by inhalation of dust particles. This is rarely the case for other common food allergies as the smallest amount required to trigger a reaction is one hundred times smaller for nuts than for other common food allergens.

Some of our younger pupils may not be mature enough to be responsible for managing their condition by avoiding allergens and so, by limiting their availability at school, we aim to minimise the risk of allergy-related incidents.

The school’s policy of strict avoidance of peanut or nut products is the only way to prevent a life-threatening allergic reaction. No food from home should be brought into school.

Sun Cream, Sun Hats & Water

During hot weather you should apply sun cream to your child each morning so they are protected when they are outside for playtimes and Games lessons. They should also bring in their own labelled sun cream which cannot be shared. Children should also bring sun hats to wear on sunny days (see Uniform) and are encouraged to bring in their own water bottle, which should be clearly labelled, and drink their own water at break-times. There are also drinking fountains around the school.

Going to the loo

If your child needs to be excused during a lesson they just have to ask the teacher for permission. All children are encouraged to go to the loo at break-time and lunchtime. However they are always able to go during a lesson, if necessary.

Parents' Handbook