Transport
Although some of our children live in the village and walk to school, many families live in neighbouring villages and at some distance from the school. This means that the journey to and from school is often made by car. If you can share the school run with other families living close by, please do consider it! It helps reduce our impact on the environment, can save parents time, and makes issues around parking much easier in Bayford. Just let us know about any arrangement you make as we can’t let your children leave school with anyone without permission from you in advance.
In some cases you may qualify for free school transport provided by Hertfordshire County Council (HCC). Very few children will qualify, but there is currently a bus service covering Brickendon and Bayford villages only. When you apply for a school, HCC automatically consider whether you’re entitled to free school transport. You don’t need to apply separately. You can find out more by following the links below.
Parking
If you have to bring children to school by car, please think carefully about where you park in the village. You will need to leave your vehicle for some time to walk to and from the school playground, and we all need to do our best to be good neighbours to the village and keep the road safe for everyone. In particular could you please note the following:
- Parents may not drive into the school car park to drop off or pick up
- Parents may not park in the private access road to the school playground or the private car park area outside the school gates
- If you park on the main road, please do not obstruct the drives of local residents, or the access to the village hall, and make sure you follow all the legal restrictions on parking
- We used to be able to use The Baker Arms pub, only a few hundred metres from school, for parents on the school run to use their car park. Sadly this is no longer possible since the pub closed, but we very much hope that if it can re-open as a community asset this may again be feasible.
The local authority and police are aware that a minority of parents regularly abuse the rules which exist to keep Bayford and our school safe. Enforcement does take place. Please think before you park.
If you are parking on the highway, please turn off your engine. Idling (leaving your vehicle engine running while stationary) creates air pollution and is usually unnecessary. It is also an offence in law under the Section 42 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (26% of fixed penalty notices are handed out to people caught idling outside schools, so please don’t become one of them). Exhaust fumes contain a number of harmful gasses including carbon dioxide, which is bad for the environment and contributes towards climate change, as well as a range of other harmful gasses including nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons which are linked to asthma and other lung diseases.
Don’t forget your child can earn WOW badges for walking to school three days per week in each month.
Dropping off in the morning
We encourage all parents to bring their children to the playground. A member of staff will be on duty to receive them. On rainy days the children may come into the classrooms through the conservatory door.
For security reasons, after normal drop off time, the gate into the playground is locked and the main gate to the school is closed. If you’re late arriving, please use the main school entrance.
Under the terms of the school’s insurance policy, children are covered from ten minutes before the beginning of the school day until ten minutes after the end of the school day. Any child on school property who isn’t attending a recognised club or school activity will not be covered by insurance should an accident occur. For this reason, parents need to ensure that they are punctual when arriving and departing from school. Children should not use any equipment in the playground before or after school. The equipment may only be used during supervised PE or break times.
Collecting in the afternoon
At the end of the day, the children’s teachers will accompany them to the playground for collection. For safety reasons we ask parents to collect their children from the playground. Any child who has not been collected will be brought back into school and supervised outside the office until a parent or nominated adult arrives to take him/her home.
If parents are delayed it would be helpful if they could telephone us to let the staff know so that we can make appropriate arrangements and reduce the child’s
anxiety.
On occasions when another adult will be collecting a child, please let the school know in advance either by note or a telephone call. The collecting adult cannot inform us. A child will not be allowed to go with another adult unless the school has been informed.
This page was last updated on 21st May 2024