New Parent Key Information
We are very pleased to welcome you and your child to Garfield Primary School. Please see below for some key information that may help you with the move to our school:
School Tours
If you would like to visit the school for a tour, please email admissions@garfield.merton.sch.uk or call 0208 540 1053 to arrange.
School Admissions Form
Before your child starts with us you'll be asked to complete a school admissions form. This will provide us with key information, such as contact details, medical issues, dietary requirements etc.
School Uniform
Please find our school uniform requirements here: School Uniform List. We are proud of our uniform at Garfield and all children are expected to wear it. Please clearly label all items of clothing with your child's name. Your child should also bring their own water bottle labelled with their name. Please note, the school runs monthly second-hand uniform sales during term time and you can also request second-hand uniform via the office, 0208 540 1053.
Reporting a child's absence
If your child is going to be absent please notify us as soon as possible by emailing attendance@garfield.merton.sch.uk or by calling 020 8540 1053 and selecting option 1.
Breakfast and After School Club
We are very lucky to run our own in-house breakfast and after school club. This means we've not had to operate any waiting lists. Bookings are made online via ParentPay (see School Payment section below). Breakfast club must be booked and paid for 1 day in advance and after school club must be booked and paid for by midday on the actual day.
Our breakfast and after school club is available to children in Reception to Year 6. We normally ask that your child does a couple of settling in days with us before they can attend these sessions. Please note we do also allow some 30-hour nursery children into our breakfast & after school club but please do check with the office first before booking because spaces are limited.
For more information please see here.
School Communication
Garfield uses a system called ParentMail to communicate with parents. All letters, including the newsletter are sent using ParentMail. It is therefore very important that you have an active account, so that you don't miss anything. Once your child has started with us, you should receive notification from ParentMail that you have been registered by Garfield Primary school with a link to follow to register. Please allow a couple of days to receive this.
Please note that ParentMail is fully GDPR compliant.
School Payments
Garfield Primary School is a cashless school and we do NOT accept cash or cheques. We ask parents instead to use ParentPay for all payments via www.parentpay.com.
You will be provided with full details along with a username/ password after your child has started with us. More details can be found here.
Please note that ParentPay is fully GDPR compliant.
Note, we do also accept payment for our wraparound care, 30-hour payments and for teacher-led clubs via childcare vouchers, Tax Free Childcare and Childcare Grant Payment Service. Please email finance@garfield.merton.sch.uk or call the office 0208 540 1053 to discuss further.
School Dinners
Children in reception, year 1 and year 2 are eligible for free school meals. 30hr nursery and year 3-6 must pay for their school dinners in advance via ParentPay. Nursery AM and PM children must have their lunch at home. If you would like your child to have school dinners please let the office know by emailing school@garfield.merton.sch.uk. Information on school dinners can be found here.
If your child has any dietary requirements or food allergies, you will be able to tell us about these when you complete the school admissions form. You will then be asked to compete a medical diet form and your child will NOT be able to have school dinners until their medical diet has been approved.
If you ticked the allergy box please list all allergies and provide the school office with medical evidence. Please note, if your child has a food allergy, you will be asked to complete a medical diet form and your child will not be able to have school dinners until their medical diet has been approved.
Packed Lunches
If your child is not having school dinners, they can bring their own packed lunch (this does not apply to our nursery am and pm children who do not have lunch in school). Packed lunches should contain healthy food. No sweets or fizzy drinks please. We operate a strictly no NUT policy at Garfield so please do not put any nuts or food containing nuts in your child's packed lunch (e.g. peanut butter) as we will need to remove these.
School Milk
All early years pupils (other than those who have stated a milk intolerance) are offered 1 carton of milk every day at Garfield, up until they turn 5 years old. At this point you can opt in to pay for milk for your child if you still wish them to have it.
The milk is not provided by the school, but is a free government initiative and is supplied to us by a company called CoolMilk. More information can be found on their website https://www.coolmilk.com/. If you register with them before your child turns 5 they will send you an email reminder around your child's 5th birthday to check whether you'd like to pay for milk after this point.
Snacks
There is no need to provide any snacks. Children are provided with free fruit or veg at school.
Water Bottles
All children should bring their own labelled water bottle (containing only water, no squash or juice) each day.
Google Classroom
All our children have google classroom logins and you will be issued with these after your child starts. In the unfortunate event that we experience another lockdown, all our learning will move online using the google classroom platform.
Nursery and Reception children
Our early years children (nursery and reception) will also be given login details for Tapestry and Busy Things. We use Tapestry as our online learning journal and through this you will be able to view your child’s observations, photographs and videos. Busy Things is a very useful resource platform for younger children and will allow you to help your child progress at home with their learning.
Toilet Training
We do expect children starting our nursery to be toilet trained before they start although we do understand that accidents may sometimes occur. Please ensure you send in some spare underwear/clothes in a named plastic carrier bag which we can keep on their pegs.