The school day

It is important that we maintain a consistent routine at school and that all St Joseph's families understand the structure of the school day.  This is both for the smooth running of the school and the safety of your children.  Please familiarlise yourself with the timetable below and the guidelines for expected conduct at the beginning and end of the school day.

08:30 Gates open

08:50  Start of the school day, children welcomed into class by their teacher and learning begins.

09:00 External gates locked

12:05 Lunchtime

13:00 Afternoon session begins

15:30 End of School Day

There is a morning break of 15 minutes staggered between 10.15 and 10.45 for classes in KS1 and KS2 and an afternoon break of 10 minutes for Y1 from 14.15–14.25.

The school day ends at 15.30 and all children are collected by their parent or carer at the end of the day. Our school week is 32.5 hours.

Please note that children will only be allowed to leave school with people who are on their 'hometime ' list, please inform school if there are any changes.

If children are not collected at 15:30 they will join Little Joe's after school club and be charged via ParentPay. Little Joe's provide before and after school activity clubs during term-time. You can find more information on the BEFORE AND AFTER SCHOOL page.

Expectations around the school day

• Please remain with and supervise your child/ren until 08:50 when the school doors open.

• Please do not ride bike and scooters  in the playground.

• Please do not allow your children to use the football areas or play with learning resources before school.

• Please say goodbye to your child at the door; you will not be permitted to enter the school without a prior appointment.

• Please be on time.  Learning starts promptly at 08.50 and the external gates will be locked at 09.00 for the safety of all the children.

• Children arriving after 09.00 must enter via the school office and will be recorded as late.

• At the end of the school day, please leave the playground promptly so the space can be used for after school clubs. 

  The playground gates will be locked at 15.40 each day to ensure safeguarding of the pupils attending after school activities.

Absence from school

We have an excellent attendance record and are committed to improving this further. We ask parents to let us know by telephone, email or in person the reason for a child's absence from school by 09:30. If we do not receive a reason, we have to enter the absence on the school records as an unauthorised absence.

We discourage parents from taking any holidays in term time, please see our Attendance Policy for further information. An application for any absence in term-time must be made in advance on the form headed ‘Application for leave of absence during term time’. These may be obtained from the school office.  

Please try to avoid booking medical or dental appointments during the school day.

If your child has a medical or dental appointment during school hours, please let us know in advance.