New Student Induction
This webpage is for the Parents/Guardians of children that have been offered and accepted a place at Sunbury Manor School
Start of Term for Year 7: Friday 5th September 2025
We are very much looking forward to welcoming your son/daughter to Sunbury Manor School on their first day. There are, naturally, certain organisational details that it is important you are aware of.
Arrival Time
Please send your child straight to us ensuring he/she arrives at Sunbury Manor from 8:15am and no later than 8.25am. Please do not drive on to the school site to drop off or collect your child. The school/leisure centre car park is managed by Parking Eye and monitored by ANPR cameras.
Where to go
On your child’s first day in September they should go straight to the main school hall (Hall A) where they will be greeted by their Head of Year, put into a tutor group and taken to their tutor room. This will be the room they go to for registration each morning.
Absence
Illness
If your child is ill and unable to attend school, parents are required to fill in an online form via the school website which can be accessed by clicking on Contact from the main menu then Report an Absence. If your child is absent for several days we would ask that you fill in a separate form on the morning of each day your child will not be attending. You will then be sent a text message to confirm that the school has received notification of the absence.
Term Time Absence Requests
The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013, which became law on 1st September 2013, state that Headteachers may not grant leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. The Headteacher should determine the number of school days a child can be away from school if leave is granted.
In accordance with the above regulations, requests for leave of absence are treated sympathetically, but only in exceptional circumstances can they be approved. The policy of Surrey County Council, to which this school has agreed, states that parents who take their child out of school for five days or more during term time, without the authority of the Headteacher, will each be liable to receive a penalty notice. Penalty Notices will be issued by the Local Authority.
All requests for absence during term time must be made on an Absence Request Form available from the school and once completed the form and supporting evidence should be returned to the attendance officer at the school.
Catering & Lunch
In the interests of supervision and safety all pupils stay on site during the lunch break.
Our catering facilities are provided by Chartwells, who work very closely with the school to ensure healthy, nutritious food is available. The food provided is of an excellent standard, with breakfast and main meals available every day as part of a meal deal (2 courses), a jacket potato bar, a pasta bar, salads, fruit, healthy drinks and snacks. The healthy main meal is excellent value and is accompanied by either fresh vegetables, salad and/or bread.
The school uses a cashless system through the school for payments for school lunches and snacks (as well as for trips, revision guides and extra-curricular activities). Parents have the ability to top up their child’s account using their debit/credit card. All card payments are secure and adhere to the highest level of compliance under the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. Arbor also allows parents to see what their child has been buying in the canteen and how much they have left to spend Students provide a biometric thumb print which is used solely for identification to pay for their food and drinks.
Students who are in receipt of free school meals will have their daily allowance automatically credited to their account, however it is not possible to rollover free school meal credit. Free School Meals allowance can only be used at lunchtime.
If your child is in receipt of the free school meal allowance at their primary school this will automatically be carried forward to our school. If you are unsure if your child is eligible for this allowance then please contact admissions@sunburymanor.surrey.sch.uk and we will be able to help you.
Catering Information
Communication
For students to succeed, it is imperative that parents and staff work together. To ensure this, we aim to provide strong lines of communication so that parents are informed of all aspects of their child’s progress. We hold a traditional Parents’ Evening for each year group so that parents and teachers can meet to discuss each of their specific subjects and student progress. In addition, we hold a Meet the Tutor Evening in October where parents are invited to meet their child’s tutor to discuss attendance, punctuality, wellbeing, development and their child’s general attitude towards school.
We use an online platform called Arbor to share information with parents. This will allow you to:
- see your child’s timetable and details of attendance details
- see your child’s behaviour record (positive, negative and details of any corrections that have been issued)
- see and update your personal contact details
- provide details on how to contact your child’s teachers
- to report student absence
- review school reports
- see what your child has purchased for lunch and remaining credit available
- booking Parents’ Evening appointments
In certain circumstances, contacting parents via telephone is often the easiest and most direct method of communication. Therefore, it is imperative that we have up to date telephone numbers for your child’s primary contact. You can easily update these in Arbor or email the school directly to amend your records.
Our school website is the first point of reference for our statutory policies, pastoral structure and key dates.
We encourage you to attend parents’ evenings to discuss your child’s progress.
Communicating Concerns
All concerns are taken seriously. Never dismiss your concern as too trivial. If you are worried about any aspect of your child’s education or general welfare, we want to hear from you. Our aim is to work with you as partners in your child’s development.
If you have concerns relating to a specific subject, please contact the teacher directly. Your next point of contact is the teacher’s Subject Leader. If you have concerns relating to any other issues, please contact your child’s tutor. Your next point of contact is the child’s Year Pastoral Support Worker and then their Head of Year.
If you have requested a call back, please be mindful that tutors and teachers may not be able to call back until after their teaching commitments. If you have not heard back from them after 48 hours, please feel free to email or call again.
Emergency Schoool Closure
We are committed to minimizing disruption to your child’s education and we will always endeavour to keep the school open whenever possible, if it is safe to do so. When we have no alternative but to close the school, we will contact parents via text alert and a notice will also appear on our website, as will any updates, and we recommend that this is checked regularly. We aim to do this by 7.00 a.m. if school is not opening at all.
Should the school open in the morning, but conditions deteriorate during the day making it necessary to send students home, we will contact parents via text alert and post a message on our website. We would then ask that you collect your child/children as soon as possible, or they will make their own way home if prior permission has been given for them to do so.
School closure depends on the severity of the weather/incident but it also depends on whether staff are able to get to work and whether local public transport is severely disrupted. If local bus or train providers notify us that they are unable to operate due to poor road conditions then it is possible we will close the school.
If you, as parents, feel it is not safe for your child/children to travel to, or be brought to school from where you live then please make that decision yourselves and inform the school office of their absence as early as possible.
Equipment
Please ensure you son/daughter has correct school equipment. If you are unable to source any of the equipment and we will endeavour to help. No books or craft equipment of any kind will be needed.
Extra Currlicular Activities
At Sunbury Manor School we have a large number of extra-curricular activities and we would encourage all students to try something new! These are the extra-curricular activities that have been available in the recent academic year:
Basketball, Band Club, Code Club, Singing Club, Magazine Club, Creative Writing, Sketchbook, Art, Dungeons & Dragons, Science Club, Keyboard Club, Duke of Edinburgh, Wimbledon training (sign ups only), PE activities including sporting fixtures such as football, rubgy and netball among others.
Timetable of Extra Curricular Clubs & Activities
Homework
Satchel One (Show my Homework) will allow parents to see the details of the tasks set by teachers, all deadlines and their submission status and, when applicable, grades. We decided to implement this system to improve the way we communicate with students and parents and give greater visibility into the homework we set. The clear advantages are:
- 24/7 access
- View quality and quantity of homework
- Translation into over 50 languages
- Apps available for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android devices
- Receive automated notifications before homework is due
- Push notifications to let you know what homework is due, along with being notified of any grades and overdue homework.
The expectation is that all Key Stage 4 subjects and Key Stage 3 English and Mathematics will set a minimum of one homework a week, with all other Key Stage 3 subjects setting a minimum of one homework a fortnight. At least 72 hours will be available for the homework to be completed.
Sparx Learning
Sunbury Manor School have recently partnered with Sparx Learning to start using their new Maths and Reading platforms, ‘Sparx Maths’ and ‘Sparx Reader’.
Students log in at sparxreader.com for Reading and sparxmaths.com for Maths and will be provided with a log in details document which instructs how to set up their account.
If you have any queries or require further information please contact your child’s Maths or English teacher.
Illness during the school day
If your child feels unwell during the school day, they should seek permission from a member of staff to visit the Medical Room at Student Reception where the illness will be assessed and contact you if necessary. Students are not permitted to use their own phone to call a parent, and must not leave the building (even with a parent) without the permission of a member of staff. This is so that we know where they are in case of an emergency.
Lost Property
If students misplace something in school they are asked to check with Lost Property which is located in Student Reception. If the lost property has not been handed in, students should retrace their steps and check all the rooms they have visited that day including their Tutor Room. Lost Property will be kept for half a term and put out on display at the end of half term – after then it will be disposed of. Please make sure you have your child’s name on all their property so that we can return items to them.
Mobile Telephones
Our school is a phone-free space. Every student will secure their phone in a personally assigned Yondr pouch when they arrive at school. Students will maintain possession of their phones and will not use them until their pouches are opened at the end of the school day. Students are required to bring their Yondr pouch to and from school every day and are responsible for their pouch at all times.
The school is unable to take responsibility for the loss or damage of mobile phones.
Uniform
We expect pupils to arrive at school in full school uniform. Please refer to the uniform page on our website for further details.
Top Tips for Students
- Everyone is friendly so it is easy to make friends
- Put your name on all personal items
- Join some clubs and try something new
- Pack your bag the night before
- Learn your route to and from school
- Get your Oyster before you start
- Get a pencil case and put your name on it
- Practice doing your tie
- Keep your mobile turned off and out of sight in school
- Stick with other students going to the same class, that way you will all get lost together!
- Be yourself and do not be scared
Top Tips for Parents/Carers
- Practice the route to school with your child over the holidays. Find an alternative route too, in case their usual bus is late or cancelled
- Top up lunch account as soon as you get instructions
- Encourage your child to pack their bag the night before to avoid stressful mornings
- Build homework into the evening routine
- Make sure your child has emergency contact numbers in their bag in case they lose their phone
- Resist the temptation to sort everything out for your child
- Try not to worry
- Get in touch with the school if you have any concerns so we can help