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Policies

Key Policies of The Blue Tangerine Federation (including statutory policies)

Under the Equality Act 2010 we have a duty not to discriminate against people on the basis of their age, disability, gender, gender identity, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief and sexual orientation, nor is it our intention to do so. 
These policies have been equality impact assessed and we believe that they are in line with the Equality Act 2010 as they are fair, do not prioritise or disadvantage any pupil or adult and help to promote equality at this school. 

 

Some statutory policies relevant to staff only are on the Staff Area of this website.

 

Behaviour, Exclusions and Rewards Policies and Guidance

Behaviour Principles

BTF Behaviour for Learning Policy & Governor Behaviour Principles. Statutory Review Annually Sep 2025

BTF Behaviours for Learning Handbook. Review Aug 2025

 

Physical Handling and Restrictive Physical Intervention

Physical Intervention Policy Including Intimate Care and Restrictive Physical Intervention.  Currently being reviewed (September 2023).

Supporting Children In Nappies Guidance (guidance, no updates due)

 

Exclusions

BTF Exclusions Policy. Statutory. Review Sep 2026

 

Rewards

BTF Guidance for Using ClassDojo Points As Part of Our School Rewards System. Review Sep 2026

Equality Statements

The general equality duty (2010) says that schools must consciously consider (have due regard for) their need to:

1. Eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by the Equality Act 2010.

2. Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.

3. Foster good relations across all protected characteristics – between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.

There are 9 protected characteristics:

• Age (adults only)

• Disability

• Gender reassignment

• Marriage and Civil Partnership

• Pregnancy and maternity

• Race

• Religion or belief

• Sex

• Sexual orientation

 

Our Measurable Equality Objectives 2024-2028

Objective 1

In seeking to support children with FSM achieve higher levels of attendance, we will have tracked all individuals and put in place measures that support the family improve the child’s attendance.

Why we have chosen this objective: 

  • Our children with FSM’s attendance is lower than those that are not. (All pupils: 88.5%, FSM: 87.3%)

To achieve this objective we plan to:

  • Work with parents and carers to support with targeted information about improving attendance, supporting families with:
  • Additional guidance
  • Clarity about ongoing improvements/ deterioration
  • Identify successful interventions and widen these
  • Create individual incentives
  • Provide visual, waking curriculum support

 

Objective 2

By the end of July 2028, every area of each school will be wheelchair accessible.

Why we have chosen this objective:

  • Ensure our growing number of wheelchair users can access all areas of the schools for learning.   Until now, we have been able to use classrooms with wheelchair access and adapt the timetable accordingly.  Now, we have an increased number of wheelchair users and as such have less flexibility in placing pupils/classes.

 

To achieve this objective we plan to:

  • Use existing accessibility information reports and our audits to prioritise and undertake a programme 

 

Objective 3

By the end of July 2028, behaviour tracking will evidence a reducation in the use of racist and discriminatory language and prejudice-based bullying by pupils in the schools to less than 10% of 2022-2023 totals (St Luke’s Target: 5 incidents or fewer, Collett Target 2 or fewer).  See Appendix 8

Why we have chosen this objective:

  • We are an anti-racist school; believing all pupils, staff, governors and visitors have the right to be treated favourably for their difference.
  • We have a school population of staff and pupils who identify as LGBTQI and our stakeholders need to see everyone’s right to education and work in a welcoming environment
  • We need to continue to educate children’s families through our pupils to avoid further hostility and prejudice

 

GDPR

The Blue Tangerine Federation staff take GDPR seriously and enlist the support, guidance and expertise of Cyber-Fortified.com as well as the local authority and DSL for Schools.

If you wish to report a data breach:

Data Protection Officer: Mrs Carole Connelly carole@schooldposervice.com

Deputy Data Protection Officer: Stephen Hoult-Allen executivehead@bluetangerine.herts.sch.uk

How long we keep data for:  BTF GDPR Data Retention Schedule

 

Our Privacy notices (Updated November 2022, Review Date: Nov 2025):

BTF Privacy Notice: Staff

BTF Privacy Notice: Governors

BTF Privacy Notice: Pupils

BTF Privacy Notice: Parents

 

Our ICO certification details:

Collett ICO Certification

St Luke's ICO GDPR Certification

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a piece of EU-wide legislation which determines how people’s personal data is processed and kept safe, and the legal rights individuals have in relation to their own data.

What constitutes personal data?

‘Personal data’ means information that can identify a living individual.  Any information that can be used to directly or indirectly identify a user. It can be anything from a name, a photo, an email address, phone numbers, national insurance number or bank details to information relating to someone’s race or medical information.

What personal data breaches need to be reported to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)?

Breaches that are likely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals must be reported (within 72 hours). Examples of these sorts of beaches could include the following:

  • Access by an unauthorised third party - for example, a data hack or sharing of users’ login details (deliberately or accidentally)
  • Sending personal data to the wrong person - for example, using the wrong email address or mislabelling an envelope (this is one of the more common areas for a breach to occur)
  • Computing devices containing personal data being lost or stolen - for example, a work laptop being stolen from the boot of a car or a USB stick being lost
  • Loss or theft of hardcopy information - for example, paper records being left on a train or in a briefcase that is stolen
  • Insecure disposal of paperwork containing personal data – for example, paperwork that was to be disposed of securely being put in general rubbish. 

The regulation applies to all schools, and also applies since the UK left the EU.

Main principles

The GDPR sets out the key principles that all personal data must be processed in line with.

  • Data must be: processed lawfully, fairly and transparently; collected for specific, explicit and legitimate purposes; limited to what is necessary for the purposes for which it is processed; accurate and kept up to date; held securely; only retained for as long as is necessary for the reasons it was collected

There are also stronger rights for individuals regarding their own data.

  • The individual’s rights include: to be informed about how their data is used, to have access to their data, to rectify incorrect information, to have their data erased, to restrict how their data is used, to move their data from one organisation to another, and to object to their data being used at all

Requirements

  • Our Federation has a data protection officer, who will advise on compliance with the GDPR and other relevant data protection law.  The DPO is Carole Connelly, the Deputy DPO is Stephen Hoult-Allen
  • Privacy notices must be in clear and plain language and include some extra information – the school’s ‘legal basis’ for processing, the individual’s rights in relation to their own data
  • Schools will only have a month to comply with subject access requests, and in most cases can’t charge
  • Where the school needs an individual’s consent to process data, this consent must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous
  • The Information Commissioner’s Office must be notified within 72 hours of a data breach
  • Higher fines for data breaches – up to 20 million euros

What are the rights for individuals?

The GDPR creates rights for individuals and strengthens some of the rights that currently exist; the ones that are most likely to be relevant in a school context are as follows:

  • The right to be informed – usually via privacy notices
  • The right of access – known as subject access requests (SARs).  
  • The right to rectification
  • The right to erasure – also known as the right to be forgotten
  • The right to restrict processing
  • The right to data portability. These are not absolute rights and don’t always apply. If these issues ever cross your desk, speak to your data protection officer about how to respond 

Can consent be used as the legal basis for processing the personal data of members of staff?

As an employer, we have a legal basis for processing the personal data of staff members. Historically, many employers relied on consent to justify their data processing; relying on consent has always been slightly uncertain, but under GDPR, it’s highly unlikely to provide the legal basis for processing the personal data of staff members. The ICO recommends that employers should avoid relying on consent; instead, they should rely on one of the other processing conditions set out in GDPR, such as the performance of the contract or compliance with a legal obligation. 

What about safeguarding?

GDPR doesn’t prevent or limit the sharing of information for the purposes of keeping children safe. Lawful and secure information sharing between schools, children’s social care and other local agencies is essential for keeping children safe and ensuring they get the support they need. The Data Protection Act 2018 introduced ‘safeguarding’ as a reason to be able to process sensitive personal data without consent.

 

Blue Tangerine GDPR Policy. Review Sep 2025

Blue tangerine data retention schedule. review sep 2026

how the dfe holds data on your child

BTF Protection of Biometric Info of Children in Schools. Statutory. Review Bi-Annually Sep 2025 

 

 

Teaching & Learning Policies and Guidance

 

British Values and SMSC

Maintained schools have obligations under section 78 of the Education Act (2002) which requires schools, as part of a broad and balanced curriculum, to promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society.

This guidance relates specifically to the requirements to actively promote fundamental British values in schools and explains how this can be met through the general requirement in the 2002 Act. 

• that maintained schools should promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development;

• what is expected of schools in promoting fundamental British values; and

• how this aligns with schools’ duty to promote SMSC.

All maintained schools must meet the requirements set out in section 78 of the Education Act 2002 and promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development of their pupils.

Through ensuring pupils’ SMSC development, our schools can also demonstrate they are actively promoting fundamental British values.  We establish a strong school ethos supported by effective relationships throughout the school, and providing relevant activities beyond the classroom are all ways of ensuring pupils’ SMSC development.

Pupils are encouraged to regard people of all faiths, races and cultures with respect and tolerance.

It is expected that pupils should understand that while different people may hold different views about what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, all people living in England are subject to its law.

Our schools' ethos and teaching, which schools should make parents aware of, should support the rule of English civil and criminal law and schools should not teach anything that undermines it.

Pupils are made aware of the difference between the law of the land and religious law.

Fundamental British values

Our schools promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs

We actively challenge opinions or behaviours in school that are contrary to fundamental British values. Attempts to promote systems that undermine fundamental British values would be completely at odds with schools’ duty to provide SMSC. The Teachers’ Standards expect teachers to uphold public trust in the profession and maintain high standards of ethics and behaviour, within and outside school. This includes not undermining fundamental British values.

Through our provision of SMSC, schools, we 

• enable students to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence;

• enable students to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England;

• encourage students to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and to understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely;

• enable students to acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England;

• further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling students to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures;

• encourage respect for other people; and

• encourage respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic processes, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England. The list below describes the understanding and knowledge expected of pupils as a result of schools promoting fundamental British values.

• an understanding of how citizens can influence decision-making through the democratic process; • an appreciation that living under the rule of law protects individual citizens and is essential for their wellbeing and safety; 1 The Prevent strategy 2011: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-strategy-2011 5

• an understanding that there is a separation of power between the executive and the judiciary, and that while some public bodies such as the police and the army can be held to account through Parliament, others such as the courts maintain independence;

• an understanding that the freedom to choose and hold other faiths and beliefs is protected in law;

• an acceptance that other people having different faiths or beliefs to oneself (or having none) should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour; and

• an understanding of the importance of identifying and combatting discrimination. It is not necessary for schools or individuals to ‘promote’ teachings, beliefs or opinions that conflict with their own, but nor is it acceptable for schools to promote discrimination against people or groups on the basis of their belief, opinion or background.

Examples of actions we undertake:

• include in suitable parts of the curriculum, as appropriate for the age of pupils, material on the strengths, advantages and disadvantages of democracy, and how democracy and the law works in Britain, in contrast to other forms of government in other countries;

• ensure that all pupils within the school have a voice that is listened to, and demonstrate how democracy works by actively promoting democratic processes such as a school council whose members are voted for by the pupils;

• use opportunities such as general or local elections to hold mock elections to promote fundamental British values and provide pupils with the opportunity to learn how to argue and defend points of view;

• use teaching resources from a wide variety of sources to help pupils understand a range of faiths, and • consider the role of extra-curricular activity, including any run directly by pupils, in promoting fundamental British values.

 

Careers

Collett Post-16 and Careers Page

St Luke's Post-16 and Careers Page

Exams

St Luke's BTEC Examinations Policy. Review Annually Oct 2024

St Luke's Access Arrangements: Review Annually Oct 2024

St Luke's Access to Scripts, Reviews of Results & Appeals: Review Annually Oct 2024

St Luke's Complaints & Appeals Procedure: Review Annually Oct 2024

St Luke's Exam Contingency Plan: Review Annually Oct 2024

St Luke's Malpractice Policy: Review Annually Oct 2023

St Luke's Word Processor Policy: Review Annually Oct 2023

St Luke's Special Consideration Policy: Review Annually Oct 2024

St Luke's Separate Invigilation Policy : Review Annually Oct 2024

St Luke's Non-examination Assessment Policy: Review Annually Oct 2024

St Luke's Escalation Policy: Review Annually Oct 2023

St Luke's Emergency Evacuation Policy: Review Annually Oct 2024

BTF Collett Examination Policy. Review Annually Nov 2022

BTF Collett Exam Contingency Plan 2022-2023

 

Relationship, Sex and Health Education policies

The Collett School's RHSE policy. Review Aug 2025

St Luke's School's RHSE policy. Review Aug 2025

 

SEND Policy and Information Reports

Our Schools' SEN Information Reports (link to SEN page)

 

Sensory Needs

BTF Sensory Needs Policy. Review Sep 2025

BTF Autism Handbook. Review Sep 2026

 

Teaching & Learning 

BTF Early Careers Teacher (ECT) Review Sep 2025

Teaching and Learning Policy (St Luke's). Review Sep2025

Teaching and Learning Policy (The Collett School). Review Jul 2025

BTF Educational Visits & Learning Outside the Classroom Policy. Federation. Review Sep 2025

DfE Political Impartiality Teaching Guidance

BTF St Luke's Staff Wellbeing Policy. Review Sep 2025

 

Other Advice & Guidance

Dealing with low attendance

All teachers are aware that if children have poor attendance at school, the likelihood is very strong they will underachieve significantly.  We are also only too aware that children who are frequently absent from school are much more vulnerable to sexual exploitation and criminal activity, including gangs and county lines. Overall, there is a distinct link between low school attendance and poor life outcomes. So how do we keep attendance at the highest level possible?

Here are some examples of approaches we use in combination:

1) Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is in charge of improving attendance across the federation, having the time and resources to manage the required teams 

2) Our attendance policy is written in a way that’s understandable for all who might have cause to read it 

3) Our home-school agreement is clear that it is the parent’s responsibility to ensure their child’s attendance is as high as it can possibly be

4) We take every opportunity to push the message to parents regarding the importance of good attendance, including new parents’ events, newsletters, our school website and prospectus.

5) We conduct regular attendance data analyses and discuss the findings with staff, governors and, where appropriate, parents. We have a series of letter templates to send home whenever a child’s attendance falls below the agreed threshold figures.

We look for patterns of absence: are there certain days which are missed more than others; do they tie in with certain subjects or activities? Does the child have any special needs or weaknesses in certain curriculum areas? Are there reasons outside of school which might explain the patterns?  We look for targeted interventions that could be put in place and then analyse the success of the interventions and adapt and amend them if necessary. 

6) Use anonymised data to show the link between good attendance and academic success – it rarely turns out the correlation is not there. There is evidence that parents are more likely to listen to arguments about attendance if they’re presented with data that represents your own school’s experience.

7) Class teachers act as a mentor and supporter of a child whose attendance is a concern. They arrange regular meetings to check in with the pupil and search for potential bars to them getting into school and search for solutions with the DSL

8) We ensure our first day calling system for absence is effective and maintained. Contacting parents about the absence, straight away, appears to be the most effective way of reducing the frequency and length of absences.

9) We use ‘pupil voice’ to help look for ways of improving attendance. Children can have ideas as to why their peers are out of school and how they might be enticed to be in school more regularly - some of those ideas might well have an impact.

10) We celebrate excellent attendance and link it to successes when possible. 

11) We run attendance campaign. These include posters highlighting the need to be at school as much as possible, the presentation of certificates or awards and letters home for excellent or very much improved attendance.

12) If parents continue to allow their children to be absent from school, then we work with the local authority to consider and impose legal measures. 

Mixed Age Classes

In our settings, we combine single year group classes into classes of pupils with a mixed-age range, which is typical and often deployed in small schools and special schools.    

Advantages and disadvantages of mixed-age classes

Although some may perceive mixed-age arrangements as challenging, particularly in relation to planning effectively across a broader range of ability groups, it’s important to recognise the benefits which mixed-age classroom arrangements bring. Potential benefits include having the opportunity to separate pupils, especially those whose personalities may have a negative impact upon each other’s learning within the same classroom. A class with a mixed-age range also allows for the separation of siblings which may enable them to develop more independence.

Funding limitations of our schools and comparatively low pupil numbers in small schools may result in classes comprising pupils from three or even four-year groups.  Decisions must be made about what will be the best criteria against which to separate pupils to optimise teaching and learning opportunities for all pupils across the school. These may include a consideration of friendship and ability groups as well as whether to use age as the defining criteria upon which to separate pupils. Allowing staff time to discuss the idea on a regular basis supports parental engagement. Accommodating any parental request for a child to be moved to a different class should be considered carefully before being agreed.   

Finance - School Budgeting

Those who carry the accountability and responsibility for good financial management and stewardship of their school are under more scrutiny than ever before to maximise and legitimately squeeze the pips out of their overall resources.

What good practice looks like

The governing body is responsible for the maintenance of a school’s finances. This responsibility is delegated to the Headteacher to be maintained as part of their leadership and management responsibilities.  Although responsibility for maintaining the budget may be delegated to a school business leader or bursar, the governing body will hold the head accountable for managing their school’s finances effectively.  

Regular reports ensure the governing body is fully aware of the financial status and health of the school, and they also provide an opportunity for the head teacher to identify any particular issues that are likely to arise in the future.  Local authority schemes of delegation may also require governing bodies to draw up three year budget forecasts. This is a particularly challenging task given the many factors that will need to be considered, such as accurately forecasting future pupil numbers.

Budget deficits and how to survive them

While a maintained school has a right to manage its delegated budget, it has no right to manage or deploy the local authority’s funds without its agreement outside the delegated budget share. This means there’s no right to set a deficit budget. However, local authorities must have a financial scheme that, among other things, includes provision for deficits to be carried forward. Delegation of the school’s budget share is subject to the provisions of the financial scheme. Schemes may preclude planning for deficits or may allow schools to plan for deficits but only in certain approved circumstances. The Department for Education’s guidance on financial schemes, 4.7, states the following: “The scheme should contain a provision which makes it clear that the authority can’t write-off the deficit balance of any school. “If an authority wishes to give assistance towards elimination of a deficit balance, this should be through the allocation of a cash sum, from the authority’s schools’ budget (from a centrally held budget specified for the purpose of expenditure on special schools and pupil referral units in financial difficulty or, in respect of mainstream maintained schools, from a de-delegated contingency budget where this has been agreed by the Schools Forum).”

Most local authorities, which allow schools to plan for deficits, have policies/guidance on when deficits may be approved. They include details of information a school would have to provide for the local authority to consider a request for a deficit budget to be agreed. For example, some local authorities say the deficit must be ‘repaid’

School Classroom Temperatures

Recent high temperatures have made working, teaching and learning in schools particularly challenging. In the past, the Education (School Premises) Regulations 1999 set out legal thresholds for minimum temperatures in schools. These were as follows:

  • 18ºC in areas of normal levels of physical activity (eg in the classroom)
  • 21ºC in areas of lower than normal activity (eg a school’s sickbay)
  • 15ºC in areas of higher than normal activity (eg a school’s gym).

While the 2012 regulations discontinued these temperature thresholds, many schools still refer to them because they were the last meaningful guide to temperature control. Currently, there are no set and (therefore) enforceable minimum or maximum temperatures set for workplaces, including schools.

Health and safety regulations simply stipulate that working temperatures must be ‘reasonable’ and must ‘not be excessive’. The World Health Organisation, however, recommends 24ºC as a maximum for comfortable working. All this said, under health and safety legislation, all employers have a duty of health and safety to monitor working conditions and take proportionate action to remedy danger and deficiencies in the workplace (including excessive heat conditions). The impact of excessively-high classroom temperatures When temperatures soar without a great deal of notice, as is often the case across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the impact can be equally sudden and typically affects staff and pupils alike:

ADVICE & GUIDANCE

  • Pupils can quickly become lethargic and lose focus
  • They are likely to lose their concentration and cognitive capacity
  • Their health may be compromised, especially if they are vulnerable to heat
  • Young children don’t and won’t know how to keep cool, so they can overheat quickly
  • Staff, especially teaching staff, may tire at a faster rate because they are ‘performing’
  • Certain staff are especially vulnerable to high temperatures (eg pregnant women). The role of school leaders

What can school leaders do in the circumstances?

• Establish a health and safety task force that’s chaired by our school business leader

• Commission the task force to carry out a risk assessment across the school

• Assign weather forecasting and mitigation plans to the task force

• Invite pupils to contribute to the task force.

Practice and prevention

• We will consider adjusting the school day (with the consent of parents of course)

• Close blinds and curtains to prevent sunlight from entering the classrooms

• Consider appropriate adjustments to the school menu (eg minimise hot food)

• Shift desks so that they are away from direct sunlight

• Move lessons to cooler areas of the school

• Ensure there is adequate ventilation of pure or fresh air in the classrooms

• Instal sun-deflecting materials or blinds to classrooms’ windows

• Moderate pupils’ physical activity and move PE lessons to cooler times of the day

• Encourage children to stay in shaded areas at break times.

• Ensure children have adequate access to water at all times (including throughout lessons)

• Arrange to hire air conditioning units where possible (fans are ok, but they are not as effective)

• Keep a stock of sun-protection aids (eg after-sun lotion)

• Relax the school’s uniform policy (eg lighter and/or shorter trousers for boys)

• Raise awareness with parents, so they provide their children with adequate sun protection

• Provide ice lollies on some particularly hot days.