Dame Alice Owen's School

Parents' Frequently Asked Questions

This page has been designed following Parents' Focus Groups to help improve our communication with you. We welcome parent feedback - if you have any additional questions and answers that you would like to see listed here, or any other comments or suggestions on how to improve any aspect of the school, please send an email to Mandy English, Communications Officer: englishm@damealiceowens.herts.sch.uk.

Questions about contacting the school or illness at school
Who do I contact if I have a query about my child?
How do I contact my child's Form Tutor?
How do I report my child's absence?
How do I notify the school if my child has to leave during the school day?
How do I request absence from school for an important occasion/unusual circumstance?
How should my child return reply slips to school?
Who do I notify to update my email address?
What if my child is ill at school?

Questions about Lost Property, Transport, Catering, School Uniform, Wheelchair Access
How should my child search for Lost Property?
How can my child travel on the Transport for London buses using an Oyster card?
How do I find out about the catering system?
Where do I find details about the school uniform?
Is there a Second Hand Uniform Shop?
What access is there for wheelchairs when visiting the school?

Questions about Term Dates, Acronyms, Reports, InTouch, Sixth Form, Exam Results
What time does school finish at the end of half terms and full terms?
What are CATs?
What is a HOSP?
When can I expect to receive reports for my child?
What do I do if I can't open an attachment sent via InTouch?
What do students wear in the Sixth Form?
If my child is unable to collect exam results from school, can they be posted?

Questions about Music Lessons
How do I communicate with my child’s peripatetic music teacher?
What do I do if I can’t contact my child’s peripatetic music teacher?
What if my child has to cancel a lesson?
How do I know how my child is progressing?
How does my child know when the lessons are scheduled?
How does my child know when concert rehearsals are scheduled?
How will my child know if there are any changes to the rehearsal dates published?
What is the Saturday Music School and if I have a query for the Saturday Music School, whom do I contact?

Who do I contact if I have a query about my child?

Depending on the nature of the query, your child's Form Tutor is your first point of reference. Following this, you can contact your child's Head of Student Progress (HOSP - previously known as Head of Year), who can also be of help. You may also contact the Assistant Head, Pastoral Care or Headteacher if more relevant to your query.

Back to top

How do I contact my child's Form Tutor?

Form tutors are your first point of reference if there is a query about your child.  You can:

• Email the school office, (admin@damealiceowens.herts.sch.uk) asking for a message to be forwarded – state your child’s name and Form Tutor
• Ring the school office (01707 643441 – option 4, general enquiries) and they will put you through to the relevant department, where you can speak to the Form Tutor directly or you can leave a message if they are teaching
• Ask your child to deliver a letter to the Form Tutor at registration time
  
  

Form Tutors aim to respond to you within a day or so – if the query is of an urgent nature, please speak to the school office.

Back to top

How do I report my child's absence?

You need to:

• EITHER email the school office (admin@damealiceowens.herts.sch.uk) by 9am on the first morning of illness, stating your child’s name and Form.  This information will be collected.
• OR ring the school office (01707 643441 – option 4, general enquiries) by 9am on the first morning of illness, stating your child’s name and Form.  If phone lines are busy, please leave a message and this will be collected.
  
  

If your child is still absent after 3 days, you need to ring or email again with an update. This will enable us to assess if work needs to be sent home.  When your child returns to school, they should bring in a letter, confirming reasons for their absence, to their Form Tutor, or an Absence Note (EXAMPLE of Absence note) found at the back of their students planner/homework diary.

If your child is absent for 3 consecutive days with no explanation, the Form Tutor will contact you by telephone or letter; the Head of Student Progress and the School Office staff will assist the Form Tutor if there are difficulties. Where the School is unsuccessful in contacting you, the Attendance and Improvement Officer (AIO) will be informed.

Back to top

How do I notify the school if my child has to leave during the school day?

If your child has to attend an unavoidable dental or doctor’s appointment or needs to leave the school during the day for another reason, you need to give written notice, by email, letter or using an Absence Note (see PDF example above) at the back of the student planner/homework diary, and give at least a days notice before the appointment, to the Form Tutor.

“Permission to Leave School” slips (EXAMPLE of Permission slip) are required by your child if they leave school during the day; they should obtain a slip from the Form Tutor at morning registration, present to the School Office when checking out and report to the school office when returning.

Back to top

How do I request absence from school for an important occasion/unusual circumstance?

You need to apply to the Head, via our Attendance Improvement Officer, Mrs A Khan: khana@damealiceowens.herts.sch.uk explaining the details, at least 2 weeks in advance of the absence. Please note that the Governors do not approve of any requests for absence in term time for the purpose of taking holidays.

You may read further information in the Attendance Policy, which is part of our Pastoral Care Policy – pages 22-28. This can be found in the Policies section of this website.

Back to top

How should my child return reply slips to school?

Your child has various options if the reply is for a teacher. They can:

• Find the teacher in school and give it to them directly
• Go to the staff room door and ask for the slip to be put in the teacher's pigeon hole
• Give the slip to the Form Tutor, who will pass the slip onto the teacher concerned
• Give in to the school office, who will put in it the teacher's pigeon hole

If the reply slip is for the Finance Office, or School Office, your child needs to hand it into the front desk.

Back to top

Who do I notify to update my email address?

You need to notify the school office so they can amend the school's records for emergency contact details and to enable you to receive communications from the school via our email service, SIMS InTouch. Please note the SIMS InTouch email address is 9195407@Capita-InTouch.co.uk, which should be added to your safe senders list. For more details about SIMS InTouch, please see General Enquires.

Back to top

What if my child is ill at school?

One of our Clerical Assistants is also our First Aid Officer. It must be emphasised that the medical facilities at the school are for use as emergency measures only, and that our First Aid Officer is not responsible for treating on-going medical conditions. If you are in doubt about your child's fitness to attend school in the morning, please ensure that he/she remains at home.

If your child is taken ill at school they MUST FIRST go to the School Medical Room to consult the First Aid Officer. If she thinks it advisable for them to return home, you will be contacted and asked to collect your child from the school. The school is reluctant to send children home unaccompanied or to an empty house. On no account should your child telephone you to arrange to go home because of illness without contacting the First Aid Officer first.

Minor Accidents: Where an X-Ray, stitching or other comparatively minor treatment at hospital is thought necessary, you will be asked to take your child to Accident and Emergency, using your own transport (parents' consent is necessary for anaesthetics or other treatment). If transport is not available, you will have to make alternative arrangements.

Serious Accidents: Your child will be taken to hospital by ambulance and you will be contacted, either to accompany the child or to meet him/her at the Accident and Emergency Department.

Back to top

How should my child search for Lost Property?

For general items, your child first needs to go to the School Office. Students know to hand items in here if anything is left lying around. Items collected here accumulate during the term. At the end of term, a parent volunteer holds a "viewing" in the main foyer for students to claim lost items for one morning and lunchtime break. Your child will be notified when these "viewings" occur by their Form Tutor.

For P.E. items, your child first needs to go to the P.E. Department. Students know to hand items in here if found in any of the P.E. areas. These items are also collected by the parent volunteer for the end of term "viewing". Your child may have handed in a watch, phone or money to the P.E. teacher at the beginning of a lesson - sometimes students forget to collect these items and should return to the P.E. Department to collect.

Named items are usually handed into the school office - a note will then be put in the register for Form Tutors to alert the student concerned. At the end of each academic year, uncollected items of school uniform are given to the "OSA Nearly New" who subsequently sell items when the main Uniform suppliers are in school - these dates can be found on the school calendar. Other uncollected items, such as watches, mobile phones and glasses are recyled.

If you are particularly concerned about any item your child has mislaid, you are invited to search the Lost Property in the School Office or walk around the school with your child to search for the item after school. If items are named, they are more likely to find their way back to their owner!

Back to top

How do I find out about the catering system?

There are a separate list of Parents' FAQs on our School Meals web page to cover any questions you may have, including making payment and who to contact in case of queries. To go to the page, click here now.

The OSA provide an excellent recycling service to the school, by selling GOOD QUALITY second hand uniform from the school foyer, at the same time as the main suppliers visit the school. You are very welcome to donate items by handing them into the school office, in a a suitable bag, labelled for the attention of Mrs Gaye Lloyd, "OSA Nearly New", throughout the year.

Mrs Lloyd ensures items are carefully displayed and prices are very reasonable. Payment can be made by cash or cheque (payable to the OSA). As a member of the OSA, she is a volunteer parent and the school are very grateful to her for providing this service for parents and students.

In addition, at the end of each academic year, uncollected items of lost property stored in the school office are given to Mrs Lloyd , who includes items of school uniform in the "Owen's Nearly New" displays. Other uncollected items, such as watches, mobile phones and glasses are recyled by the school office.

If you would like to contact Mrs Lloyd at any time for further information about the "OSA Nearly New", or would like to volunteer to help, she can be emailed via the school office at admin@damealiceowens.herts.sch.uk.

Back to top

What access is there for wheelchairs when visiting the school?

If you are visiting the Edward Guinness Hall (EGH), visitors are advised to park in the Lower School car park and take the ramp down to the EGH. There is one disabled parking space directly adjacent to the EGH on the left hand side, which can be used for dropping off and collecting immediately outside the EGH if required. If you are visiting the Arnold Lynch Building, a lift is available - the key must be collected from the Site Superintendent. Disabled facilities are available in both the EGH and the Arnold Lynch Building.

Back to top

What time does school finish at the end of half terms and full terms?

At the end of a half term, school finishes at 2.45pm (see revised timetable for the day below) and at 12.35pm at the end of a full term (Periods 1-3 only). For the normal timetable you can go to About Us/School Day.

Buses are sometimes scheduled to run at the earlier times and your children will be notified by the school office via the Form Tutors, the day before, which ones will be running. It depends on different bus companies schedules and the availability of their drivers as to whether or not they can come at the earlier times.

You can contact the school office (admin@damealiceowens.herts.sch.uk) the day before the end of a half term/full term if you wish to confirm bus arrangements.

Back to Top

Your child will take CATs (Cognitive Ability Tests) in the Autumn Term of Year 7. They are standardised tests used by many schools, including Dame Alice Owen’s; there are three short tests that assess verbal, quantitative and non verbal ability:

1. Verbal. Comprises questions assessing verbal classification, sentence construction and verbal analogies. The use of words.
2. Quantitative. Comprises questions on number analogies, number series and equation building. The use of number.
3. Non verbal. Diagrammatic classification, analogies and analysis. Use of shapes and geometry.

Since verbal and quantitative skills are most commonly used in a school setting, then these scores are the most useful, although there is a correlation between non-verbal scores and future student performance.  These scores are used as a baseline from which future possible performance can be projected across a range of curriculum subjects.

Back to top

When can I expect to receive reports for my child?

At Dame Alice Owen’s we report to you three times a year on your child’s progress.  The current reporting timetable (for 2012/13) is shown below:

What do I do if I can't open an attachment sent via SIMS InTouch (school email service)?

Attachments sent via SIMS InTouch are usually sent as a PDF's (in Portable Document Format) as this is the most user friendly format for computer software to read. The software that a personal computer requires can be downloaded free of charge from Adobe - please click on the logo below to access their site. You need to keep your version updated. If you still have a problem with opening a document, please contact the school office who may be able to send you a word document as an alternative.

If my child is unable to collect exam results from school, can they be posted?

If you provide a first-class stamped, self addressed envelope, clearly marked with your child's name as the addressee, results will be sent out at the end of the day they are available for collection from the school.  They are not given out over the phone, emailed or faxed.  A nominated person can collect them on your child's behalf if they provide a note of authorisation.

Back to top

How do I communicate with my child’s peripatetic music teacher?

You are provided with a written contact when your child commences instrumental lessons with details about your child’s teacher, which includes their phone number.  You can contact the teacher directly with any queries and request an email if this is mutually agreeable.

What do I do if I can’t contact my child’s peripatetic music teacher?

You can contact the school music department on 01707 643441 Ext 241 and ask for a request to be passed on.

Back to top

What if my child has to cancel a lesson?

You need to give your child’s teacher at least 24 hours notice and make an alternative time; otherwise you will be charged for the lesson.  There are 33 lessons a year; missed lessons will be rearranged between yourself and the teacher and made up over the year.

Back to top

How do I know how my child is progressing?

The peripatetic music teacher provides a written report annually, which is sent home with your child’s academic report.  For Years 7-9 this is in the Summer term and for Years 10-13 this is in the Spring term.  If you require more regular updates, you need to contact your child’s teacher directly.

Back to top

How does my child know when the lessons are scheduled?

Individual timetables are available in the Music Department on the notice board for your child to refer to.  Music lessons rotate each week to avoid repeatedly missing a particular lesson.

Back to top

How does my child know when concert rehearsals are scheduled?

Rehearsal timetables are given to your child as a hard copy at the beginning of the academic year and are also available on the school website under News and Dates/Concert Dates.  This provides information on all concert and drama production dates, weekly rehearsal schedules and names of all the music teachers.

Back to top

How will my child know if there are any changes to the rehearsal dates published?

Your child will be informed by their music teacher at their weekly lesson or from the previous rehearsal session.

Back to top

What is the Saturday Music School and if I have a query for the Saturday Music School, whom do I contact?

The Saturday Music School is for Dame Alice Owen's pupils and for pupils aged 7 – 18 from the local community.  This is managed by our senior instrumental tutor in partnership with the Hertfordshire Music Service.  Two hundred young people take part each week and the numbers continue to grow.

For queries relating to the Saturday Music School, you need to speak to Mr B Bean, Head of Instrumental Studies, on his direct line 01707 622868.

Back to top

You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader 5 or a higher version to open PDF files. If you don't already have Acrobat Reader you can download it free from Adobe's web site.