Fostering independence in our students is a key aim, and as their daughters start secondary school, parents realise they will be less involved with their daily lives. However, effective communication between WHS and parents is of course vital. We outline here the methods we use to keep you informed. You will be given login details for these apps at the start of term.

Please see a brief outline of various communication channels. More details can be found below.

SchoolPost – Week Ahead, notices, letters and events
We use SchoolPost for our communications, grouping emails where at all possible to our weekly Wednesday Mail-out. Please make sure you read this. The first item every week will be the Week Ahead message – showing the events on in school in the following week. You will also be notified about community events that are open for booking – eg: plays and concerts. We like to encourage all parents to come to different events over the course of the year, whether or not your daughter is directly involved. They are important markers for the school year and you will find other parents, teachers and members of the senior management team there, to talk to over refreshments. We do urge you to take up these opportunities where work and family commitments allow. We mark in the subject heading where a message needs your response – eg: an RSVP for specific permissions, etc. This avoids us having to send any paperwork home. All emails sent out by the school will be accessible to you in your SchoolPost inbox as well, where you can search by subject or date. For urgent matters, we will use the text function in SchoolPost, so please ensure we have up-to-date mobile numbers at all times.

Firefly and School Calendar
You can change your contact details on Firefly. It is also your access point to your daughter’s attendance records and where school reports will be published. There is also a link from Firefly to the school calendar, weekly menus, etc.

For more notice on school events, we recommend parents subscribe to the school calendar.

If you'd like to understand more about how it works, you can access our How to Guide for Firefly.

SOCs - co-curricular clubs and sports fixtures
Club timetables are on SOCs – this application is for your daughter only and students will be shown how to use it for signing up to clubs, etc. All sports fixtures can be found at wimbledonhighsports.com or via SOCs.

Your daughter will be given a login for SOCs in her second week so she can sign up for clubs.

A guide for accessing sports fixtures info can be found here.
Find out how to use SOCs on our Co-Curricular page.

Evolve 
In common with many other schools, we use Evolve for all administration for school trips. You will receive emails from evolve.notifications@edufocus.co.uk. The subject line will say : ‘Booking Invitation.’ Once you click into a Booking Invitation you’ll see the Trip, the Organisers name and further details.

Parents’ Evenings - in the Autumn Term, you will have the opportunity to meet with your daughter’s Form Teacher in person and in the Spring Term there will be a round robin style, parent teacher forum with most to all of your daughter’s teachers. You will be notified when the Parents’ Evening Booking System will open on the School Post and book at https://wimbledon.schoolcloud.co.uk

ParentPay and Fees
If you have any queries about fees billing, please contact the GDST: feesdepartment@wes.gdst.net Lunches are compulsory and you are invoiced for these with the school fees. Payment for any additional items, such as optional snacks, trips and visits, is via ParentPay, a secure online system. New parents will receive their login details before the start of term.

News, social media and website
Do subscribe to our social channels and news feed for news, photos and reports from recent activities.

We will also update parents with specific news at least once a half term, via Head’s letters and newsletters.

You can access all our key policies, recent academic results and leavers’ destinations on our website.

Wimbledon High School GDST Instagram
Wimbledon High School music Instagram
Wimbledon High School sport Instagram

Communicating with teachers
Your first point of contact should be your daughter’s form tutor. Email is the best way to be in touch but bear in mind that teachers are more often than not away from their desks. Our policy is for staff to respond within 24 hours, at least with a holding email. There is no expectation that teachers will respond to emails over the weekend unless the matter concerns an urgent safeguarding issue.

If you need to liaise with any other member of staff, urgent messages should be relayed via reception.

Staff Concerns – Pastoral or Academic
If teachers have concerns about a student, they will mention these to the form tutor, who will be in contact with parents as appropriate. More often than not, of course, it is because of a pastoral reason that academic work might start to slip. Students who are struggling will receive further support from their tutor who will draw up an action plan, in liaison with subject teachers. Prolonged absence from school is always managed by collaboration between staff and parents.

Sport Fixture Cancellation
If a sports fixture is cancelled ahead of time, we will update SOCS and the fixture will show as cancelled or postponed. If a fixture is cancelled last minute (i.e. on the day) we will send a SchoolPost clarion/text message to parents.

Reporting absence
If you are alerting us to your daughter’s absence, please contact reception via senior.absence@wim.gdst.net, copying in your daughter’s form tutor, or you can leave a voicemail 020 8971 0900. Please do this before 8.30am on each day that your daughter is absent, including a reason for the absence.

Feedback for Parents
In Lower School, and in Year 7 in particular, the focus is very much on the girls settling in and getting to grips with the academic life at Wimbledon High. Your daughter’s tutor will always be on hand to assist with any questions or queries that you might have regarding your daughter’s academic attainment and overall wellbeing. In the autumn term (November) you will have a chance to have an in-depth conversation in person with your daughter’s tutor. Ahead of this meeting subject teachers will flag any potential concerns with the tutor, to ensure these can be dealt with swiftly, before they become bigger issues. Emails from the Head of Year, sent via our SchoolPost system will notify you of the Parents’ Evening dates, together with a link to our automated booking system for appointments.

In the Spring Term (March) you will meet the subject teachers who will provide a detailed update on how your daughter is getting on in their subject and provide helpful suggestions on things they should be working on. This Parents’ Evening will also require students to reflect on their progress, to inculcate the importance of metacognition and encourage them to take ownership of their own learning. In the Summer Term (July) you will receive a detailed report which highlight both your daughter’s strengths and areas of focus as they head into Year 8.