Parents/carers should avoid, if at all possible, making medical/dental appointments for their child during school hours. In the unfortunate event that this is not possible, please inform the office of the appointment and share a copy of the appointment card with the attendance team - wma.attendance@sharemat.co.uk.

Students are expected to attend school before and after any appointments during the school day.

For more information about attendance, please click here

Please notify school on each morning of your child's absence by no later than 8am, by calling 01274 851152. A voicemail facility is available should you need to leave a message. 

The parents/carers of children who are absent and have not informed school will be sent a text message to inform them of their child's absence.

For more information about attendance, please click here

If parents intend to take their child out of school, please ensure a leave of absence form is filled in and returned to school. These can be obtained from the school office. 

Parents/carers do not have a legal right to take children out of school during term time. Each application is considered individually by the headteacher. Permission for a leave of absence during term time must be requested 4 weeks in advance of the required date. 

For more information about attendance, please click here

The Year Team are generally the first point of contact for any queries or concerns about your child's well-being, but specific issues can be directed to the staff named within the link above list of contact details here,

We will endeavour to make contact within 2 school working days as per the school policy. 

Your child's class teacher will be happy to discuss any queries or concerns around your child's educational progress. If you require contact details for your child's class teacher, please contact the Academy.

We will endeavour to make contact within 2 school working days as per the school policy. 

The Academy has a number of ways in which we will contact home.

Urgent communication will be sent via text message and as an Announcement on ClassCharts (Arbor from September 2024). Non-urgent communication, letters and updates will be shared via ParentPay and ClassCharts (Arbor from September 2024) and added to the Academy website here.

You can access Arbor via the app and ParentPay here. If you do not have access to either of these and require an activation code, please contact the Academy.

Arbor is used to contact home about students behaviour and other important announcements. 

Arbor is our main student information and management platform. Arbor has a Parent Portal App which allows parents/carers to:
 

• See child(ren)s attendance
• Change your contact details
• Update important information relating to your child(ren) e.g. medical information about students and consent information as often as they wish to
• Receive parent/carer update
• Receive notifications about your child(ren)s behaviour in school

Arbor will be our main way of communicating. The Parent Portal app will allow us to send messages (in app messages and text messages) and emails to parents/carers, these will appear as messages in your app and will remain there for you to refer back to as and when needed.

Information about a sanction your child has been given can be found on the ClassCharts app (Arbor from September 2024).

If you would like to speak to the member of staff who has issued the sanction, please contact the Academy on 01274 851152 or via email at whitcliffe.office@sharemat.co.uk 

ParentPay is our cashless payment provider. It is used for payment for school meals, drinks and snacks and as our preferred method of payment for trips and events. Non-urgent communication, letters and updates will also be shared with parents via ParentPay.

You can set up and access your ParentPay account here. If you require an activation code, please contact the Academy.

We have a variety of food and drink available for students to purchase in the restaurant at breakfast, morning break and lunchtime.

For more information on prices and to view the current menu, click here

It is important to us that school is open each day, providing the 190 days annual access to education that is your child’s entitlement. However, occasionally, in certain circumstances, it may be necessary that school is closed or that it may open at a later time.

Adverse Weather

If road conditions make a normal start unlikely, we will delay opening until conditions improve. Notification of school closures or delayed starts will be through email to students, text to parents/carers and through social media. Details will also be put on the school website as soon as possible.

Other Emergency Closures

Unfortunately, there may be times when it will be necessary to close the Academy due to failure of services (i.e. water, electricity) or health issues at which time the same procedure will be followed.

Whitcliffe Mount Academy offers a wide range of activities from recreational sporting clubs and competitive fixtures, to music clubs, school productions and Achieve sessions, which all our students are invited and welcome to attend. Information relating to our extra-curricular programme can be found below:

For the Y11 Achieve Timetable click here

For the Whole School Extra-curricular Timetable click here

Students do not need to sign up to a club before attending, they just need to turn up with the appropriate PE kit or equipment on the relevant day.

Please note it is the responsibility of the students to inform parents/carers if they are planning on attending an extra-curricular club, whether it be before school or after school.

An in-year admission is when a child already attends a school but wants to transfer to another school outside of the usual transfer time, for example because the child is moving to a new address. These transfers take place during the school year, which is why they are called in-year admissions. There are two different types of in-year admission:

• Parents or carers who are moving/have moved house and wish to move to a school closer to their new home.
• Parents or carers who are not moving house, or whose change of address is not a significant one (a significant house move is defined as over 2 miles for Key Stage 1 or 3 miles for Key Stage 2 and above) but would like their child to change school.

Click here for more information on In-year admissions (kirklees.gov.uk)

The ICAF (In-Year Common Application Form) is used by parents/carers to apply for their child to change school during the school year.

You may apply at any time during the school year, but no earlier than one school term in advance of when the school place is required. A child usually starts at a new school at the beginning of a term unless their home address has changed significantly, or they are new to Kirklees.

You can apply for any school(s) in Kirklees on the Kirklees ICAF but not private fee-paying schools.

Click here for more information and how to complete an ICAF (kirklees.gov.uk)

You should return the completed ICAF directly to the school/academy that you name in Section 7 of that form. If your preference is for a Kirklees community or voluntary controlled school, the school will forward details of your request to Kirklees Pupil Admissions to process.

Click here for more information and how to complete an ICAF (kirklees.gov.uk)

The admission authority for the school/academy will aim to send you, within 10 school days, but must within 15 school days of the application being received, a decision letter to offer or refuse a place at the school/academy.

Once the authority has confirmed your place, you will need to notify them that you accept the place for your child.​​​​​​

Once the Academy has had confirmation that you have accepted the place, your child’s new Head of Year (HoY) will contact you within 10 days to arrange an appointment for an initial meeting. During this meeting, you will be given a guided tour of the Academy, your child’s planner will be provided and discussed, and information around our home school agreement, rewards, behaviour and uniform/equipment, will be given. If required, we will arrange a further meeting with the Academy SENDCo.  

A date will then be arranged for when your child can come in for the morning and complete English, Maths and Science assessments and a reading test.  After this, your child’s start date will be confirmed and communicated with you. You will also receive information about your child's form group and induction day. 

During your child's induction day, your child can expect to receive their timetable, discuss school routines and expectations, have their fingerprint and photograph taken (with consent) and buddy up with another student, to support their integration into school. Their HoY will check in with them at break and lunchtime.

Once your child has started school, parents/carers should ensure they have access to ClassCharts, ParentPay and SIMs Parent App. 

If you require any further information including access to ClassCharts, ParentPay and SIMs Parent App, please contact the Academy.