Page 9 - Boarding House Handbook_Portway

PORTWAY

BOARDING

LIFE

PREP Students should request their exeat before the Wednesday of
The minimum requirement is that there is both an ethos and the weekend in question, with parental/guardian permission
an environment within Houses that supports the academic required in advance. An email or a phone message will suffice,
work of all students. This means that during prep time, all however students are not allowed to go on exeat without this
boarders will be in appropriate spaces, the House will be parental confirmation. Housemasters/mistresses will always
quiet, and staff supervision good. Doors will be propped reply to an exeat request to confirm the plans accordingly.
when a bedroom is occupied. After parental permission is received, travel chits are issued
and transport arrangements are made by the school. Students
SIGNING IN/OUT are allowed to go out with their family on a Sunday without
When students leave or return to house for any reason this counting as an exeat.
(including getting on or off the school bus for country
houses) they must check in/out using the tag board or CARE OF PERSONAL POSSESSIONS
personally see house manager and/or the duty member of All possessions should be indelibly marked, name taped or
staff. It is essential that all students ensure that their return engraved. Clothing must have name tapes stitched/ironed
to the house is known to house manager and/or the duty on. Students will not be allowed to send clothes to the
member of staff. school laundry unless each item is named. Name tapes can
be ordered from the School Shop and spare name tapes
FIRE SAFETY are necessary for items purchased during term-time. Minor
A fire safety briefing will be given at the start of the sewing jobs such as name-taping can be done in houses
academic year and all houses carry out planned fire drills by house managers. Socks are bagged together in a single
every term. If the fire alarm is heard at any time, all students named bag, and so do not need to be individually named.
must congregate outside at the relevant fire safety location. Articles of value should be insured under your household
policy under all risks or you may wish to use the insurance
LEGAL GUARDIANS policy recommended by the school. Students should keep
Following the Children Act (1988), the Protection of Children the amount of possessions they bring to the school to a
Act (1989) and the Care Standards Act (2000) Millfield minimum. Lockable drawers for more valuable personal
School, in promoting and safeguarding the welfare of every possessions will be made available to all students via the
student, requires parents who do not live in the United Housemaster/mistress upon arrival.
Kingdom to appoint a guardian to act on their behalf for any
student in the school. The above legislation protects the ROOM ALLOCATIONS
rights of children and makes ‘proper and appropriate care’ a Year 10 students are accommodated in either double or three-
compulsory requirement. berth dorms, Year 11 students will have double or occasionally
three-berth dorms. Where possible, Upper Sixth students will
During term time, the school is legally responsible for be allocated a single room, although this cannot always be
each student's welfare, and undertakes delegated parental guaranteed and Lower Sixth will be a mix of single and double
responsibilities. However, there are times (e.g. exeat dorms. Every effort will be made to accommodate sharing
weekends, half-term breaks, or when a student is suspended preferences, however compromises will have to be made from
by the school, etc.) when the school must be able to hand time to time. Dorm allocations change each term, therefore
over these parental responsibilities to another adult – a over the course of the two junior years, your daughter will
properly appointed guardian. have shared with most of the girls in their year group. It is
important that tolerance, understanding and acceptance is
EXEATS always paramount in a shared boarding community. Rooms
Students are allowed three exeats a term and these can be must be kept tidy at all times, especially in the mornings so
taken at any time. In addition to this, there is a compulsory the cleaning staff can do their job unhindered. Beds must be
whole-school exeat in the Autumn Term where the whole made and desks left free of clutter. Posters can be displayed
school will be closed for the entire weekend (Friday 12.45- on the pin-board alongside flags if desired.
Sunday evening). Exeats start after games commitments
on Saturdays (but not before 3.30pm). All students should BEDDING / LAUNDRY
return from exeat by 9pm on Sunday to allow adequate The school provides all bedding, duvets and pillows so there is
time to prepare for school the next day. It is a statutory no need to bring these items from home. However, if students
requirement that all overseas boarding students have a UK should wish to bring their items, these should be clearly
based guardian. labelled. Fresh school bedding will be provided weekly and

HOUSE HANDBOOK 9