Attendance & Punctuality

Attendance

• Each pupil must be punctual and regular in attendance and if late must have a note of explanation from their parent.
• No pupil may leave the school during the day without a written request from their parents and the permission of the Principal, Deputy Principal or Year Head and must follow the signing out procedure.
• Principal or Year Head and must follow the signing out procedure.
• Absences must be explained by a note written in the School Journal. Parents are asked to phone the school where a student has been absent for more than two days. Absences of twenty or more days will, by law, be reported to the National Education Welfare Board.

Holidays should not be arranged during term time.

The Parent/Guardian must phone the School Secretary as soon as possible, if the student is unable to return to school after lunch.
For insurance purposes a letter from the Parent/Guardian at the beginning of the school year should indicate, if and when, a student may leave the school grounds during lunch hour: any unexpected outings can be covered by an extra note. Dental and Doctor’s appointments should be made outside school hours, except where there is an emergency.

Punctuality
In the day to day life of the school, punctuality is recorded electronically by the ‘Data Set’. A record of student punctuality is included in all school reports which are posted home at regular intervals. A late text will be sent home to parents for students late between 8.30 – 9.30am.

After 8.30 am, Senior Prefects:

• Senior Prefects take names at student entrance door from 8.30 – 8.45 am.
• They take a note of students who have an explanatory note.
• Deputy Principal collates this information every week
• Students are entitled to 1 late note per week.
• ‘Late’ Demerits will combine with ‘Behaviour’ demerits and may result in Detention

After 8.45, at Reception Desk:

• The school secretary takes names at the reception desk.
• The diary page in student journal will be stamped appropriately and shown to the teacher by the student.

Monitoring Punctuality

• Year Heads have access to Lates information every Friday.
• Following an agreed number of lates a standard letter is sent home i.e. 8 Lates per half term (20%).
• When students are on their third Detention per term for Lates, Year Heads will call parents in.
• A Special ‘Lates Record Card’ will be given to students marked by teachers first class am and pm where a student’s parents have been contacted.

Anti-Bullying

St Joseph of Cluny is an Anti-Bullying School. The ethos of our school reflects an environment where every effort is made to foster a strong sense of community within our school, centered around respect for the individual. We recognize that the quality of the relationships between members of the school community is of fundamental importance for a positive school environment. Our approach to discipline is a positive one, based on respect where consistency and reasonableness are applied in the maintenance of discipline.

Definition of Bullying:
Bullying is repeated aggression, verbal, psychological, physical or electronic i.e.cyberbullying, conducted by an individual or group against others. Isolated incidents of aggressive behaviour can also be described as bullying if they are unjustified and serve to intimidate on an on-going basis.

Our Anti-Bullying Policy Aims:

• To create a school ethos which encourages students to disclose and discuss incidents of bullying behaviour.
• To raise awareness of bullying as a form of unacceptable behaviour
• To provide structures whereby incidents of bullying can be reported and investigated
• To provide channels of support for those affected by and involved in bullying behaviour

Classroom Charter:
Every student in St. Joseph of Cluny has the right to enjoy her learning and her break times free from intimidation. It is therefore of primary importance that students are encouraged to report incidents of bullying and be assured that appropriate means are in place to act on such incidents.

Some common examples of bullying are:
Student/Student Student/Teacher Teacher/Student

Verbal
(slagging and name calling): Personal, persistent, demeaning/hurtful or insulting remarks, gestures or name-calling, sarcasm/sneering, unwelcome comments about appearance/background.

Through technology:
Cyberbullying Phone, email, internet, mobile phone or text messaging

Isolation:
Deliberate exclusion or ignoring of a person by a group

Physical:
Pushing, shoving, punching, kicking, poking, tripping, ‘messing fights’ or severe assault

Damage to property:
Interfering with, vandalising, breaking, stealing or hiding personal property

On grounds of disability:
Jokes about a person’s condition, imitation and mocking, or removal of technical aids needed by the disabled person

Financial (Extortion)
Demands for money accompanied by threats.

What do I do if I find that I am being bullied?

• Act now!
• Tell someone you can trust: parent/prefect/class tutor/ year head/ staff member/ABC.
• Keep calm
• Tell yourself you don’t deserve to be bullied
• Try to look confident and assert yourself (bullies want your scared reaction, when they don’t get one they get bored!)
• Stay with a group of people, there is safety in numbers
• Do not hit back; violence in return can be very dangerous!

What do I do if I see someone else being bullied?

• Act now!
• Help or get help
• Do not stand by or tolerate those who bully in your social group/class, bullies will stop when they realise their behaviour is unpopular
• Tell someone you can trust
• Report any incident calmly and discreetly

What do I do if I realise my behaviour is causing a problem?

• Act Now– Stop
• Think about your actions and why you may be behaving this way
• Talk to someone you can trust about your worries/concerns regarding your behaviour
• Admit that what you have done is wrong
• Apologise for your behaviour

What will the school do about it? Cluny’s Commitment to Students

• All cases will be treated seriously, investigated with care, and with all possible confidentiality
• Sensitivity and respect will be shown both to the person making the complaint, and to the subject of the complaint.
• The ABC committee is in place to deal with your initial reports of bullying and if these allegations are founded, disciplinary action will be taken by the school authorities
• Please familiarise yourself with school policies with regard to Bullying

Homework Journal

The Homework Journal is an important source of communication between the school, the students, their parents/guardians and other agencies that may need to access the journal i.e. the Department of Education and Science Inspectorate and the National Education Welfare Board (NEWB).In particular, all notes and documentation concerning a student’s absence punctuality must be carefully recorded in the journal and retained by the school for NEWB perusal. Students must be aware that the Homework Journal is not a personal diary!

Please note the following:

• For the reasons outlined above and because the Homework Journal holds the school name and school crest on the cover, students have an obligation to keep their Homework Journals in correct order according in accordance with school regulations
• All homework must be recorded legibly in the journals on a daily basis. On completion of homework, the homework tasks should not be deleted /crossed out.
• All work in the Homework Journal should be recorded in pen and must contain a record of a student’s academic work only. Excessive use of highlighter or coloured marker is not permitted. The Homework Journal should not have drawings or scribblings, pictures, stickers or defacement of any kind in it.
• Students are asked not to fold over pages in triangles when a week is complete as the spine of the Homework Journal will break and the contents may be lost.
• First Year students should have their homework signed by a parent /guardian each night. Second /Third Years must have this done each week.
• It is absolutely unacceptable that Homework Journals should at any time contain bad language or obscenities. Parents /Guardians will be contacted if this is discovered. Any Homework Journal that is not satisfactorily kept must be replaced immediately by the student, at her own cost. The original, which is a school document, must be submitted to the school so that absence notes etc. can be retained.
• All notes relevant to the school must be put in the Homework Journal, which must be available for inspection. All Homework Journals must be submitted a the end of the school year to facilitate the official communications between school and home.
• Pages must not be removed from the journal

Homework may include:

• Written exercises
• Longer written assignments
• Oral/learning work
• Project work
• Revision

The time-frame will depend on time of year and will vary from subject to subject and from year group to year group and will also depend on the ability of the student

What is the purpose of homework?

• To enhance learning and teaching in the classroom
• To reinforce work done in class in order to be able to progress and to direct future teaching
• To assess the progress of students
• To encourage students to be active learners rather than passive learners
• To develop self-discipline and self-directed learning

Homework Guidelines for Junior Cycle Students

In School:

• Journal to be brought to every class
• Write homework into journal at the end of each class

At Home:

• Neat presentation of homework is essential.
• Decide on the order of work before you start.
• Start with favourite subject, follow with least favourite and finish with second favourite.
• Allocate a time limit to each assignment and stick to it. Always study against the clock. Work in time blocks of 30 minutes.
• 1st Years : 1 – 1½ hours per night (3 x 30)
• (Note – unlike primary school, homework is given at the weekend)
• 2nd Years : 2 hours per night (4 x 30)
• 3rd Years : 2 – 3 hours per night (6 x 30)
• N.B. If doing supervised study for 2 hours after school, the balance of recommended homework time should be done at home.
• Before starting each subject spend 5-10 minutes reviewing that day’s classwork.
• Where possible close your book when doing homework.
• Alternate written and learning work – both are equally important.
• Where possible incorporate Note Taking / Mapping with your written and learning work as an aid to revision later.
• Record time spent on each subject in Homework Journal.
• Parent must sign journal, on completion of homework every night.
• When homework is completed, spend some time, even 10 minutes, every night on revision work.
• N.B. Homework missed during absence from school should be recorded in journal and completed as soon as possible (by arrangement with subject teacher).

Homework Guidelines for Senior Cycle Students

In School:

• Homework Journal to be brought to every class.
• Write homework into journal at the end of each class.

At Home:

• Neat presentation of homework is essential.
• Decide on the order of work before you start.
• Start with favourite subject, follow with least favourite and finish with second favourite.
• Allocate a time limit to each assignment and stick to it. Always study against the clock. Work in time blocks of 45 minutes.
• 4th Years (TY) – 2 hours and project work*.
• (* TY students must adhere to deadlines set for assignments and projects).
• 5th Years – 3 hours per night (4 x 45). 6th Years – 3/4 hours per night (5 x 45).
• Note: If doing supervised study for 2 hours after school, the balance of recommended homework time should be done at home.
• Before starting each subject spend 5-10 minutes reviewing that day’s classwork.
• Where possible close your book when doing homework.
• Record time spent on each subject in Homework Journal.
• When Homework is completed, spend some time, even 10 minutes, every night on revision work.
• N.B. Homework missed during absence from school should be recorded in journal and completed as soon as possible (by arrangement with subject teacher).