New Parents

What New Parent / Carers need to know

Welcome

These are some things you will want to know about if your child is coming to Ashley College.   We look forward to getting to know you and your child – you are our best ally in helping us help your son or daughter learn, enjoy their time with us and move on to their next stage.

Contact Details

Name	Role and Responsibilities	Contact via:
Ms Ranjna Shiyani	Head Teacher Strategic Lead Deputy Safeguarding Lead	rshiyani@ashleycollege.brent.sch.uk Tel: 020 8937 3330
Mr Nicky Chandarana	Chair of Management Committee	Ashley College Ashley Gardens Wembley, Middx, HA9 8NPTel: 020 8937 3330
Mrs Anne Marie Mika	Deputy Headteacher Deputy Safeguarding Lead Standards, Curriculum, PSHE/SMSC, Enrichment, Assessment/Outcomes	amika@ashleycollege.brent.sch.uk Tel: 020 8937 3330
Ms Louise Huse	Interim Assistant Headteacher / SENCO Designated Safeguarding Lead Pastoral Lead	ltogher@ashleycollege.brent.sch.uk Tel: 020 8937 3330
Mrs Christine Cahillane	Office Manager / PA - deals with queries from parents and the public	ccahillane@ashleycollege.brent.sch.uk Tel: 020 8937 3330
Mrs Lata Bhudia	Administrator Exam and Attendance Officer - deals with queries from parents and the public	lbhudia@ashleycollege.brent.sch.uk Tel: 020 8937 3330

Information on this website

You can ask for a paper copy of information on this website from our Office Manager or Administrator – we will provide it free of charge.

Home College Agreement

Before your child starts with us we will ask you to sign an agreement.  This spells out some rules - what we will do for you and your child and what we need you to do to make sure your child gets maximum benefit from their time with us.

• Centre Students
• Home Students

Student Code of Conduct

We ask all our students to sign our Code of Conduct. These are simple rules to make sure the environment is right for learning.  We don’t allow mobile phones in lessons for example and expect students to be on time, see links below.

Centre Students' Code of Conduct

Home Tuition Students' Code of Conduct

Attendance & Punctuality

Many of students have medical conditions and we are very sensitive to their needs but we stress to them how important it is to turn up for lessons and on time.  It is key to learning, progress and success. Students sign up to good attendance and we reward them for their effort. We hope you will help us encourage regular attendance and we will be in touch whenever we have concerns.  You can read more within our Attendance Policy on our Policies page.

Rewards

We celebrate success and reward academic achievement, good attendance and positive contributions (including kindness) in all kinds of ways – praise, stickers, postcards home and even £10 vouchers.  Our rewards system encourages effort - you can read more within our Attendance Policy on our Policies page.

Improving behaviour

Good behaviour is the norm at Ashley College and we have very few cases of poor conduct.  We use personal development targets to promote behaviour skills and an ‘on report’ system – white, yellow and red reports – to warn students that behaviour must improve.  Parents are contacted as soon as we have any concern.  Our Behaviour Policy gives more information and can be found on our Policies page.

Your child’s wellbeing

All our students have health needs and many are more vulnerable than their peers in mainstream schools.  We offer a very high level of support – pastoral and academic.  Everyone has a Link Tutor who will arrange to discuss your child’s progress and welfare with you and you can ask to see them with any concerns.

Protecting your Child

All young people have a right to be protected from harm and at Ashley College our students know that we will listen to and act on any concerns they have.  We give top priority to creating a safe environment for our students.  All our staff are vetted and cleared and our Headteacher is the person with ultimate responsibility for safeguarding and protecting students, that’s how important it is to us, with our Deputy headteacher carrying the role of Designated Safeguarding Lead.  You can read more about the steps we take to keep students safe within our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy which can be found here.

Many parents are concerned about their children’s safety online.  To facilitate this we ask all of our parents to complete, with their child, an online E-safety course; details of which are provided at your induction meeting.

We have had very few reported cases of bullying at Ashley College and we can claim with some pride that our Anti-Bullying Policy and Procedures are working well.  You can find this policy and read more about them here.

Communicating

We will stay in regular contact with you when your child joins us.  We promise always to listen to any concerns you have and act on them when we can.  We arrange Progress Review meetings to discuss your child’s progress and we send home a report every term. Your first point of contact is the student’s Link Tutor who you can arrange to meet.

Get involved

We welcome parent/carers visits to the school and you can talk to Link Tutors, class teachers, the Head or Deputy Headteacher.  You can put your views on how we are doing to Parent View. We ask for your views in questionnaires we send out during the school year.  You can also raise issues you think our Management Committee should discuss with the Parent representative, Ms Denyse Mitchell.

School food

Our school lunches are an opportunity for students to develop their social skills and our school cook cooks fresh, natural produce every day.  We can cater for food allergies, intolerances and special diets.  You’ll find a typical week’s menu here.

Equipment

We ask all students to leave mobile phones at Reception when they arrive.  We cannot accept liability for personal possessions – electronics, money or jewellery.

Homework

Support from parents is very important if students are to achieve their full potential.  There is a lot you can do to help them with homework without actually doing it for them.  You can ensure they have a quiet space to work and the right equipment.   You can encourage them to prepare a homework timetable, balancing the work with relaxing activities.  You can help them break difficult tasks down into smaller parts.  In the Curriculum section of our website you will find out how teachers suggest you can help in individual subjects.

Helping your child

You can encourage your child to arrive on time, come to school every day, and do homework.  You can take an interest in their work, come to Parents Meetings, celebrate their progress and good work and help them stay positive when things don’t go well.  You can also contact the school when you have any concern – academic or otherwise.

Curriculum

We offer a broad and balanced curriculum with accredited and other courses many of which include a therapeutic element.  Go to the Curriculum and Learning pages of our website for full details of the courses we offer.

Classes

Our classes are small – a maximum number of 8 and often smaller.  This assures a high level of attention to each student.

School trips

School trips are an important learning experience at Ashley College.  When you give us permission for your child to join school trips you agree to give us information about any medical conditions that might need medical treatment and agree to any emergency treatment necessary.  If students cannot join in, we provide alternative education.

On-site facilities

We are in a quiet and pleasant location, in a building designed as a ‘low arousal’ environment.  Our facilities include an ICT suite, a science laboratory, art room, music and PE areas, a playground, canteen where students eat together, a kitchen for learning cooking skills, an allotment cared for by the students, and a small library to provide a quiet space.

Parking

We have a small car park for short term visits.  Ring at the gates – and if you can ring ahead of your visit to alert us so much the better.