News & Headteacher Blogs

We value the strong partnership we share with our families and community, and clear communication is a vital part of that. To help ensure every message receives the right response in the right time, we have put together this short guide to when to telephone the school office and when an email is the better choice.

When to telephone the school office (8.30am to 4.30pm)

The following matters affect your child's immediate safety and wellbeing, and should always be phoned through to the office rather than emailed:

• Your child is unwell or has had an accident
• If your child is absent, please leave a message as directed by our automated service by 9.20am.
• A change to your child's usual collection arrangements, or a late collection
• A safeguarding concern regarding your child or another pupil
• Uncertainty about your child's whereabouts or after-school arrangements
• A medical emergency or urgent medication need during the school day
• An urgent family circumstance affecting your child that day

If you are ever uncertain, please phone. We would much rather take a call that proves not to be urgent than miss one that was.

When to email us (48-hour response time)

These matters are just as important to us, and email allows your query to be directed to the right person with all the relevant detail included:

• Lost property
• General questions about a school trip, including payment, kit lists or timings
• Uniform or PE kit queries
• Homework or curriculum questions
• Dinner money, payments or Arbor queries
• After-school club bookings or changes, with reasonable notice
• Non-urgent behavioural matters you would like to raise with a teacher
• SEND or additional needs queries that are not time-critical
• Transport queries that are not covered by Berkshire County Council
• General administrative requests, such as updating contact details.

If you are not a current parent or carer

This guide is written primarily for our current school families, but we also welcome enquiries from prospective parents, members of the local community, and suppliers or contractors.

• Prospective parents: We are delighted to hear from you. For admissions enquiries, school tours or general questions about joining our school, please email admissions@thedownschool.org or phone the office, and we will happily guide you through the next steps.
• Members of the public or local community: For general enquiries, please contact the school office by email or phone during office hours, and we will direct your query appropriately.
• Suppliers and contractors: Response times for supplier enquiries also fall within the 48-hour timeframe outlined above.

How we handle your email

Every email received by the school is carefully and confidentially triaged by our office team and directed to the most appropriate member of staff, whether that is a class teacher, our SENCO, a member of the office team or senior leadership. This ensures your query reaches someone best placed to help, and that nothing is overlooked.

Why a response may take up to 48 hours

We would like to take this opportunity to explain, with openness and appreciation, why our response time is set at 48 hours for non-urgent queries.

• Throughout the school day, our teaching staff are wholly dedicated to your children, and rightly so. Once the school day ends, their responsibilities continue: staff meetings, training, and the many after-school clubs and fixtures that enrich our children's experience. Following this, a significant amount of planning, marking and administrative work remains.
• We hold the wellbeing of our staff in high regard, and we believe that a well-supported teacher is best placed to give your child the attention and care they deserve. In the same way that we place your child at the centre of everything we do during the school day, we also look after the time our staff need once the school day is complete.

Respectful communication, and our Parent Code of Conduct

We are proud of the respectful and constructive relationships we share with our school community, and we ask that all communication with the school reflects this. As set out in our Parent Code of Conduct, we kindly ask that emails to staff are courteous in tone.