All children in Reception class and Years 1 and 2 are entitled to a (Government funded) free school meal and Southwark subsides school meals in KS2. However, even though your child receives free school meals automatically, it is vitally important that you still complete the borough’s registration form in case your child is eligible for extra funding for the school from the Government, worth £1,300 per year. This extra money helps us to ensure the children get the best experiences. Depending on how schemes operate in your borough, it may also entitle you to other benefits like food vouchers during the holidays. There is more information about registration in your borough here:

If your child requires a special diet e.g. vegetarian, or allergy related, please let the office know in writing.

School dinners for Nursery must be paid for in advance at the school office, unless you are entitled to Free School Meals (ask the office for more information if not sure).

All children are provided with a piece of fruit each day for the playtime break in the morning.

Children who bring packed lunches should bring them in packed lunch boxes clearly labelled with the child's name and class. Parents are advised that we do not have cool storage areas in the school and so packed lunches must only contain items which can be stored at room temperature or even above.

There are some children in the school who have potentially life-threatening allergies. It is therefore crucial that packed lunches do not contain nuts or nut products, particularly peanuts, peanut butter or muesli bars and in line with our no sweets and chocolate policy we ask that children have no chocolate, chocolate biscuits, sweets or sugary drinks.

We are proud of our 'healthy school' ethos and therefore, we don’t allow chocolate or sweets in school. We kindly ask you not to send party packs or birthday cakes and treats to school. 

Our school caterers, Olive Dining, hosts special themed events and days once a month, which coincide with key dates in the year.   They are fun ways to add extra excitement for our children. 

Please see our new menus for this term, with the new Meat Free Mondays!

We encourage children at Michael Faraday to eat a healthy lunch every day. All children in Southwark are entitled to a free school meal which we would encourage you to take up. Our menus are designed to be both tasty and healthy.

If you do decide to provide your child with a packed lunch it should include:

• Some starchy foods such as bread (including wholegrain where possible)
• 1 portion of fruit
• 1 portion of dairy food such as cheese or yoghurt
•  1 bottle of water

Sugary drinks and chocolate snacks are not allowed to be consumed at lunch time. We encourage children to keep uneaten food and wrappers in the lunch box so parents can monitor what their child has eaten. Our lunchtime staff monitor the content of packed lunches. If pupils are noted to consistently bring unhealthy packed lunches, then parents will be contacted to discuss healthier options.

Please also be aware that some children suffer from food allergies so packed lunches should never include nuts.

It is the expectation for all children to wear school uniform, as outlined below.  Our policy fosters the ethos that school uniform should be available at a reasonable cost and provide the best value for money for families. 

The uniform is the same all year round. 

Daily uniform

Sweatshirts:   A generic cobalt blue sweatshirt (non-logo), which can be purchased from any retailer

Polo-shirt:  White

Trousers, skirts and pinafore dresses:  Grey.  On warmer days, children can also wear blue Gingham dresses which can be purchased from big retailers.  

Hijab:  Blue or white

Shoes:  Children are expected to wear appropriate shoes – school shoes or trainers (no bright colour trainers please).  

Jewellery:  Due to Health and Safety reasons, no jewellery is allowed except for a wristwatch and small studs in pierced ears. 

Please see expectations for PE days in the PE Kit tab

We have school book bags, embroidered with our school logo.  We encourage all children to have their own book bag instead of bringing a backpack to school.  

Book bags can now be purchased from the school office at a cost of £5 each. The cost has been subsidised by the school to make them more affordable for parents and carers.

It is the expectation for all children to wear a PE kit, on the days they have PE.

On the day that the children have PE, they can wear a navy tracksuit to school (or navy shorts on warmer days) as well as the colour t-shirt from their house.  

The navy tracksuit and yellow, red, green and blue t-shirts are available from big retailers.

Our school policy has recently been reviewed, in line with the new statutory guidance from the DfE. For more information, please look at our school uniform policy in the policy section.

Regular sales of secondhand uniform take place in the school playground, usually at the end of each term. 

At Michael Faraday, we have a house system. Every child from Reception to Year 6 is given one of four houses to support.  With our house system, we want to create community spirit and give the children an opportunity to contribute to something bigger that involves children from all year groups.  Wherever possible, siblings are placed in the same house. House points are awarded for exemplary behaviour, making good choices and showing good values around the school. Pupils also participate and compete in competitions and events for house points.

Timings

Our school day starts at 8:45am, when the school gates are opened. Children from Reception to Year 6 can go straight into class, where they will have some early work to complete until the registration at 9am. School finishes at 3:15pm, which means that the length of the school week is 32.5 hours.

Parents or carers are welcome to have a quick chat with teachers after school when they pick up their child from the classroom. However, please appreciate that the teacher has up to 30 children to dismiss, so please make an appointment to speak to the teacher if you need a longer conversation.

There are two entrances into the school site. There are two gates - one of Hopwood Road, the children's main entrance, and the small gate in Portland Street, which leads to the Reception area. These gates are locked during the school day.

All visitors must report to the school office after they have entered the school site.

At Michael Faraday, 15 hour Nursery places are offered as 2.5 days. Children either have a place al day Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday morning, or Wednesday afternoon and all daly Thursday and Friday. The 'all day' sessions start at 9am and finish at 3:15pm. We also have 30 hour nursery places and these children stay all day, 5 days a week in our Nursery.

The Nursery sessions run from 9am and the end of the day is 3:15pm. At the beginning and end of the sessions, parents and carers should use the Hopwood Road gate (main entrance gate for children) and make their way to the small Nursery gate, where they will be met by the Nursery staff.

On a Wednesday, which is the 'change over day', parents and carers collecting children from the morning session should collect the children after their lunch at 12:30pm. The parents and carers bringing the children to the afternoon session, should be at the gate at 11:25am, so that the children can start their afternoon session with a lunch at 11:30am.