The College values its relationships with parents and carers very highly and we are keen to work in partnership with you to ensure that your son or daughter can achieve their full potential. While we encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning and conduct, your involvement is key, and we are committed to maintaining contact with you through regular reports on attendance, letters of concern and congratulations about achievement, students' reports and parents' evenings.

You can help your son or daughter to succeed by:

• Making us aware of any change in circumstances or difficulties experienced outside college which might affect their performance
• Supporting your child to organise themselves and their time so they can manage their learning effectively
• Informing us in writing of changes of address, telephone numbers, etc. and ensuring family holidays do not coincide with term-time

Every student has a Personal Tutor. If you have any concerns or queries about your child, please call 020 8607 8000.

Key dates 

For information on term dates, information talks and parents' evenings, see Key Dates. We strongly recommend that you take note of these dates and keep them for reference.

Student Responsibilities

In order to sustain excellent academic results and ensure that each student can fulfill his or her potential, the College has high expectations. The College has a very stringent attitude towards punctuality, attendance, behaviour, and completion of work. These are all essential for student success and the College will act rapidly to identify students who are a cause for concern. We are keen to work in partnership with parents/carers to address these issues.

During induction, each student's Personal Tutor will provide them with a copy of the College's Partnership Agreement. In addition, the tutor will discuss the Student Responsibilities with their tutor group, to give them the opportunity to clarify anything they are unclear about and as an opportunity to ask questions. Students and parents/carers are asked sign a copy of the Partnership Agreement as confirmation that they have agreed to abide by them. Signed copies are kept on file. For more information, see Student Responsibilities.

The College has a clear policy on punctuality and attendance. If the Attendance Officer or Tutor sees this as a concern, an email or a phone call will be made. If the student is late, he or she may not be allowed to enter class for that session to prevent other students from being disrupted.

Students are not expected to take holidays during term-time. The academic year is an intensive one and assessments, coursework and exams take place throughout the year. It is essential that students attend fully during the teaching weeks and that holidays are taken outside the published term dates.

Student Attendance Unit

The College has a dedicated Student Attendance Officer who is responsible for keeping a log of all student absence. The Officer also deals with enquiries from parents/carers on the accuracy of these reports, liaising closely with tutors, subject teachers and Student Records. If your son or daughter is going to be absent from college unavoidably, it is essential that the Student Attendance Officer is contacted, to ensure that their absence can be notified and explained.

Details for the Student Attendance Officer can be found on the back of every student's ID card.

ID cards 

The College has a rigorous security system. Students and staff are required to present their ID cards in order to gain entry to the College. ID cards must also be worn visibly at all times.

Wearing ID cards enables us to be clearly identifiable as a member of the College community and allows us to quickly exclude anyone who has no proper purpose in being on-site. 

New students are given a period of time to get used to the ID card system. If after this time they fail to present their ID card upon arrival at the College, they are likely to be sent home.

On occasion, students attempt to evade the College's security system by, for example, lending their ID card to others. Such behaviour is a breach of the College's Code of Conduct and will result in disciplinary action.

It is vital that parents/guardians, students and staff work together to ensure that the College continues to provide a safe and secure learning environment* and therefore we ask that you discuss the importance of ID cards with your son or daughter. We would like to thank you in advance for your co-operation with this matter. 

*Outlined as a key strength in the last Ofsted inspection

Keeping in touch

As part of the enrolment process, your son or daughter will have provided us with their contact details. If these details change, please notify the Student Records department on 0208 607 8389 as soon as possible, in order for us to contact you in the case of an emergency and keep you informed about your child's progress. In cases where parents are divorced or separated, the College will communicate with the parent who has 'residency' rights.

Whilst we encourage all students to involve their parents/carers during their time with us, at the age of 18 some students decide that they no longer want us to send information directly to their parents. Legally, students aged 16-18 can also request a change in how they prefer to receive information. However, this request would be carefully discussed with the student before it was granted and carers would also be informed that this request had been made.

Illness/accidents during the college day 

If a student is taken severely ill or has a serious accident during the day at college, one of the College's First Aiders will arrange for an ambulance to take them to our nearest Accident & Emergency Department. The student's next of kin (provided at the time of enrolment) will be contacted, so that they can go directly to the hospital to meet them.

If a member of staff believes a visit to A&E is needed but the circumstances do not warrant an ambulance, the College will contact the next of kin so that they can come and accompany the student to hospital. If this is not possible, the College will pay for a taxi for the student to be taken to hospital, accompanied by a member of staff. As the member of staff is only able to ensure the safe transition of the student to the care of the health professionals before returning to college, it is essential that the next of kin meets the student at the hospital.

Immunisation

It is important that students are fully up-to-date with their immunisations before starting College. If they are unsure whether they have had all of their immunisations (for example the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine) they must contact their GP.