Parents’ Information

Important Safety Reminder: Jewellery and PE

At our school, keeping our children safe is our highest priority. To ensure a fun, safe, and active learning environment, we want to remind all parents, carers, and children about our policy regarding jewellery.

Children should not wear any jewellery to school on PE days.

In line with official national guidance from the Association for Physical Education (afPE), all items of jewellery must be completely removed before participating in PE. This includes earrings, studs, watches, and fitness trackers.

Why is this so important for primary children?

• Preventing Painful Injuries: Jewellery can easily catch on a friend’s clothing, PE equipment, or a flying ball, causing pain or impact injuries to your child or their classmates.

• No Taping Allowed: Current afPE guidelines strictly state that taping over earrings is not permitted. Tape creates a false sense of security and does not protect a child's ear from compression injuries if hit by a ball or bumped during play.

• Keeping Everyone Safe: As a school, we have a legal duty of care to protect all children. For safety reasons, we cannot accept letters, emails, notes or waivers from parents asking for exceptions to be made.

How you can help us:

• Leave it at home: Please ensure your child does not wear jewellery to school. The school cannot accept responsibility for any items of jewellery that are lost, mislaid, or broken on school premises.

• Independent removal: If a child does arrive at school wearing jewellery, they must be able to take it off by themselves before PE. School staff are not allowed to help children insert or remove earrings.

• Summer Piercings: If your child is planning to get their ears pierced, please arrange this for the very start of the summer holidays. This gives the ears the required 6 weeks to heal so they don't have to miss out on any fun physical activities when they return in September! Please avoid getting ears pierced during half term holidays.

Please note: Children who cannot remove their jewellery will not be able to take part in the physical elements of the lesson. They will instead be given a safe role on the sidelines (such as being a referee, coach, or scorekeeper) so they still get to learn with their class.

Religious Items, Faith Adornments, and PE Safety

We deeply value, respect, and celebrate the diverse religious and cultural backgrounds of all the families in our school community. While our general policy is that jewellery should not be worn to school, we understand that certain items—such as the Sikh Kara (bangle) or other mandatory faith adornments—are deeply important expressions of a child's religious identity.

When it comes to Physical Education (PE) and physical activity, national guidance from the Association for Physical Education (afPE) states that statutory health and safety laws take precedence where a foreseeable risk of injury exists. This is to protect both your child and their classmates from accidental injury.

To ensure children can safely fully participate in PE while remaining faithful to their religious obligations, we handle these items on an individual basis using a "remove or make safe" approach:

• Making Items Safe: For items like the Sikh Kara, if it cannot be removed, it must be made safe before the lesson begins. This is done by covering the bangle with a thick sweatband and securing it safely against the wrist so it cannot catch, scratch, or cause impact injuries.

• Other Articles of Faith (The 5 Ks): For other symbolic items, we follow specific safeguarding and safety rules, which are assessed case-by-case (and depending on the religious article).

• Items That Must Be Removed: Any religious items worn as necklaces or loose bracelets that present a serious risk of entanglement, choking, or catching on PE apparatus must be removed for the duration of the physical activity.

What parents need to do:

If your child wears a religious item or an article of faith that cannot be removed, please speak to your child's class teacher or contact the school office before their next PE day. We will work with you to complete a quick risk assessment and agree on the safest way to ensure your child can participate safely and comfortably alongside their peers.

Thank you so much for your support in keeping our children safe and protecting their personal belongings!

House T-shirts

All pupils are assigned a ‘house’ when they join our school. They earn house points for their house every day! To find our more information about House points, visit our behaviour page.

Children wear their house t-shirts for PE lessons each week, and on House Day each half term. Children also wear their house t-shirt during Sports week in the summer term.

To order house t-shirts, supplied by our PTA, place your order via this link: http://folls.sumupstore.com/

Orders will be sent off at the end of each half term and delivered at the beginning of each half term. Parents are also able to order house t-shirts too!