Useful Information
Transport
Churchward School do not run or administer the transport service. For more information and to see if your child is eligible, please follow the link to the Swindon Borough Council website School Travel Support Pages
Contacting School
There are regular times throughout the year where you can meet your young persons tutor at Parents/Carers Evenings. You will also receive regular reports which will be sent home at Easter, Summer and Christmas.
If you would like to contact your young persons tutor then please contact Claire Hatherall in the School office on 01793 209198 to make an appointment.
Food & Drink
We are extremely excited to be able to provide freshly made delicious and nutritious hot dinners by our on-site caterers. All lunches need to be pre-ordered in advance via the online booking system.
At our Bridges Provision we do not have an on-site catering company so we ask students to bring in their own lunches. We do offer lunches for those students on free school meals.
Please can you contact the office to ensure you let the school know of any dietary requirements, allergies or sensory food issues.
Please note we are a nut free school so therefore we do not allow nuts or nut based products in packed lunches.
Packed Lunches
Our aim is to ensure that all packed lunches brought from home provide students with healthy and nutritious food. Packed lunches should include:
-
At least one portion of fruit and or vegetable (this could include a dried fruit)
-
Meat, fish or other source of non-dairy protein (e.g. lentils, chick peas, hummus)
-
A sandwich that includes a savoury filling (e.g. egg, tuna, cheese, cooked meat)
-
A starchy food such as bread, pasta, rice, noodles
-
Dairy food such as cheese, yogurt, fromage frais
-
A smoothie or yogurt drink
-
A bottle of water
-
Crisps (baked or other low fat options if possible) or other such snack such as seeds, savoury crackers, breadsticks etc.
-
Eating utensils if necessary
Packed lunches should avoid:
-
Confectionery such as chocolate bars, chocolate coated biscuits, sweets and fizzy drinks.
Our school aims to meet the needs of all children and ensure equality of provision. We understand that some children have a range of sensory issues and that it is a major step to getting some children to eat anything at all. Please let us know if this is the case so that we can support your child sensitively and with encouragement and praise for what they have eaten.
We will provide a safe, healthy and appealing eating environment for students eating snacks and packed lunches, and ensure fresh drinking water is available at all times. We will encourage all students to eat and drink as much of their morning snack or lunch as possible.
As part of the curriculum students will make and eat food so please can you contact the office to ensure you let the school know of any dietary requirements or allergies. Please email details to Claire Hatherall
Water
It has been recognised that children's concentration and behaviour improves when children drink water throughout the day. Dehydration can give children headaches and make them tired. Therefore, we encourage all students to bring a plastic bottle of water to school each day. This will allow children to have access to fresh drinking water throughout each day.
Term Dates
All our term dates can be found on our website under the term dates calendar.
Information Leaflets for Parents and Carers
10 Top tips for supporting children with going back to school
Parental Controls - 10 top tips for parents and carers
Self-care summer Toolkit - A guide for secondary and FE students
Encouraging Open Conversations at home - 10 top tips for Parents and Carers
TikTok - A Useful Guide for Parents and Carers
What parents and carers need to know about Anime
Pokemon Go - A Useful Guide for Parents and Carers
Snapchat - A Useful Guide for Parents and Carers
Back to School Guidance for Parents and Carers
What parents and carers need to know about ESports
A useful guide for parents & carers about Virtual Reality
A guide to phone scams for children and young people
Ideas for brightening someone's day online
A how to guide for supporting children to deal with upsetting content
Cross-platform sharing of inappropriate content
What parents and carers need to know about Youtube
A parents and carers guide to horror games online
What parents and carers need to know about Fornite
A useful guide for parents and carers on setting up new devices for your family
Talking to your child about online sexual harassment
What parents and carers need to know about Replika
The Ofcom Children and Parents: Media use and Attitudes report 2022
Snapchat - A Useful Guide for Parents and Carers
WhatsApp - A Parents and Carers Guide
Zoom – A Useful Guide for Parents and Carers
TikTok – A Useful Guide for Parents and Carers
Discord – A Useful Guide for Parents and Carers
Vodafone Digital Parenting Guide
Xbox - A Useful Guide for Parents and Carers
Persuasive Design - A Useful Guide for Parents and Carers
How to look after your Mental Health Booklet
A useful guide for parents and carer – Don’t let your child become a screen zombie!
A parents and carers guide to Fake News
SEND Splash Newsletters
Useful Links
Please find listed below, useful contacts for both local and national support:
Swindon Local Offer - Your one stop shop for information and support - from holiday activities to support groups to education and training opportunities.
https://localoffer.swindon.gov.uk/home
Swindon Council have general advice for help with everything from food to finance , education to medication. http://www.swindon.gov.uk/helpandsupport
Education support provide mental health & wellbeing support and a range of resources for all education staff - teachers, lecturers and support staff dealing with the Covid-19 crisis. Help line: 08000 562561 https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/teachers-mental-health
MIND Mental Health Support from Swindon & Gloucestershire Mind Website: https://www.sgmind.org.uk
Thrive - the Thrive website contains helpful information about why children behave the way they do and useful resources. Click to view a Thrive survival kit for parents and carers or follow the link to view the Thrive website
https://www.thriveapproach.com/who-we-work-with/parents-carers/
Swindon LIFT Psychology - LIFT offer a variety of services for people who are experiencing anxiety/depression or looking to improve their wellbeing. LIFT is part of a stepped care approach to psychological care. telephone:01793 836836 https://lift-swindon.awp.nhs.uk Email: lift.psychology@nhs.net
Citizens Advice in Swindon and Wiltshire- Offer a range of support around preparing for redundancies, benefit entitlements and support to people who are worried about finances - https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/
Swindon Cruse Bereavement Centre on 01793 619933 or by emailing: swindon@cruse.org.uk
NHS Website www.nhs.uk
The Samaritans (UK wide) - Call just to talk things through 116 123 (free to call from landlines and mobiles, including pay-as-you-go). You can also email jo@samaritans.org as this can be a calm and safe way to talk through what is on your mind.
Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM)- National support for men, advice and support as well as a free phone service 0800 58 58 58.
Shout- Is a 24/7 UK text service available for times when people feel they need immediate support. By texting ‘SHOUT’ to ‘85258’ you can speak to a trained volunteer.
Health & Safety executive – has lots of help and advice on working safely including anxiety & stress https://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/what-to-do.htm
Money Advice Service- for free and impartial money advice - 0800 138 7777 Mon-Fri 8am to 6pm (Debt advice tool and money navigator tool).
Debt - free and independent advice, web chat and online tool kits https://www.nationaldebtline.org/
