CRA Newsletter 04.10.2024 Half Term 1 - October 2024

SLT Update

This week with the start of October we have certainly seen a change in the weather and Autumn is well and truly taking hold. With that in mind we are currently planning our Harvest Festival Service which will be held with Year 7 pupils later on this month.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all parents for their contributions for Harvest and remind you that you still have time to send something in if you haven’t already. After half term we will be participating in a special assembly and service to remember the many people who have given their lives to save others.

Next week we are planning to hold two Open Mornings for Year 6 parents, and these will be on Wednesday 9th October and Friday 11th October. If you are aware of any parent who might like to visit please invite them to contact the school office to make arrangements.

This week in school we have had the Year 10 introduction to Year 10 webinar led by Assistant Head Teacher Miss Brealey. Next week we have a similar introduction to Year 11 webinar on Thursday 10th October and I urge all Year 11 parents to join this to support your son or daughter through this vital year.

Mrs Le Caplain - Acting Head of School & Senco

CRA Character

The Academy continues to flourish through its many Inter- house competitions and this week has seen the opportunity for Year 7 to participate in the interhouse football competition.

The football tournament continues next week with older year groups being involved and the Spelling Bee House competition is returning.

It is also Caeli House Charity Day and the pupils of that house are being requested to dress up in yellow to support their charity Hello Yellow. the event takes place on 10th October 2024.

There will also be activities for the pupils to be involved in, including a photo booth. All proceeds from that day will go to the charity Hello Yellow which is a charity that supports. Mental health of children.

Please support this if you can.

Teen Support..

Table Talk

At CRA we talk a lot about the 7Cs of resilience. Over the next 7 weeks we will write about each element. This week we are talking about connection.

Week 4 Connection

Having close ties to family, friends and community. Human connection allows us to more fully celebrate during joyous times and to recover during challenging times. It is the connection with your children — based on knowing who they really are — that is the most protective force in their lives. Hopefully, your adolescent will develop amongst many other protective connections as well. The more, the better.

Attendance......

Attendance

As many of you will be aware from publicity in the press, and letters we have sent out previously, the government have significantly toughened the law in relation to school attendance and have now published revised guidance which has become mandatory from September 2024.

From September 2024, schools have to consider a penalty notice if a pupil misses 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks. Half of a day (am or pm) is considered as a ‘session’. The threshold of 10 sessions can be met with any combination of unauthorised absence, for example, eight sessions of unauthorised holidays in term time and two sessions for other unauthorised reasons would trigger a penalty notice.

The ten school week period may span different terms or school years, for example: 2 sessions of unauthorised absence in the summer term and a further 8 in the autumn term.

National Framework for Attendance Penalty Notices (fines)

The new penalty notice regulations are:

• Each parent will be issued a separate penalty notice, for each child who is absent. For example, 2 parents and 3 children, each parent will receive 3 penalty notices for £160 each, with a family total of £960 in fines.
• The fine amount will be £160 per parent, per child paid within 28 days, reduced to £80 per parent, per child if paid within 21 days.
• The first penalty notice will be considered your first offence.
• The next time an offence occurs, within 3 years of the date the first penalty notice is issued, the fine amount will be £160 per parent, per child paid within 28 days, with no reduction.
• The third time an offence occurs this will be presented to Magistrate’s court for prosecution.

Where a child is absent, and it is believed they are absent without valid reason, we will carry out a home visit and see the child on or before the third school day of absence. If the absence meets the thresholds explained above, you will be issued fixed penalty notices as detailed above.

Please review any holiday plans you have for term time this year to ensure you are not issued with a penalty fine or prosecuted in the Magistrates’ court.

The above rules also apply to punctuality as registers must close at the end of our tutor period. Arriving to school after this time will result in an unauthorised absence. To enable our morning registration (AM) to begin promptly, we require all students to be on site for 8.40 a.m. This is the time your child must be in school, ready to be marked into registers (punctuality due to late buses will be coded accordingly). Therefore, we ask that you ensure your child arrives at 8.40 a.m. and they are with their tutor by 8.50 a.m. at the latest.

Your child must register with their tutor and attend P1 to ensure their ‘present’ marks are captured within the AM registration period. Your child must attend afternoon registration and P5 to ensure their ‘present’ marks are captured within the PM registration period. Even if your child is on site they will not be registered unless they are in their tutor room and classrooms and an unauthorised mark will be given. Ten unauthorised sessions in a ten school week period will result in a fixed penalty notice.

Pupils who attend school regularly will achieve higher grades than those pupils who don’t. In the summer of 2024 pupils at Charles Read Academy who had above 90% attendance achieved a grade and a half higher than those who are below this.

If you require any support or advice, please get in touch via email us on enquiries@charlesreadacademy.co.uk

If your child is absent from school, please ensure you contact school daily either by email/MCAS or by telephoning the attendance line 01476 550333 ext 502. It is vital we are notified everyday of any absence for safeguarding reasons, unless previously authorised. A reason for illness will always be requested, this is to observe attendance patterns and outbreaks of illness amongst students.

Please do not hesitate to contact myself kcoleman@charlesreadacademy.co.uk on 01476 550333 ext 515 or tsandison@charlesreadacademy.co.uk ext 502 to discuss ways to support your child's attendance.

CRA - Lets work together to make every day count!

Leave of absence request

A Principal can only authorise a leave of absence in exceptional circumstances. We will take into account the Government guidance when considering what the exceptional circumstances are- all applications are considered on a case-by-case basis. You may be able to take your child out of school in exceptional circumstances, providing an application is made in advance by the parent/carer, this request complies with Government guidance and the leave is deemed to be ‘exceptional’ by the Principal.

If you take a leave of absence without our permission or if your child fails to return by the agreed date if permission was granted, then this will be recorded as an unauthorised absence and noted in your child’s record. You might also be issued with a fixed penalty notice for this absence. If your child has not returned within 10 days of the expected date of return then, after consultation with the Local Authority, we may take your child off our school roll.

As examples, the following reasons are not considered to be exceptional circumstances:

• availability of cheap holidays
• periods overlapping with beginning or end of term
• visits to family
• renewing passports

Requests for leave of absence will only be considered if made in writing. Please ensure you use the leave of absence request form to do this.

To request a leave of absence, please use this form.

Mrs Coleman - Attendance Manager

Holiday Warning Letter

The Sporting Post.

PE kit reminder - 2024/2025

The standard PE kit is as follows:

• CRA House PE top (compulsory)
• CRA PE shorts or skorts (compulsory)
• CRA PE Hoodie (compulsory)
• Black socks. These can be purchased from any provider.
• PE track pants / leggings / skins - optional - must be plain navy or black. These can be worn under the CRA PE top, shorts or skorts. These items should have no logos/writing/labels. These can be purchased from any provider.

Sports trainers- These can be purchased from any provider. No fashion trainers.

Girls will take part in hockey and boys will take part in rugby during PE lessons. Gumshields and shinpads are recommended for their safety.

Shinpads will also be needed for girls' and boys' football.

Moulded football boots are also recommended as students can wear these on the 3G artificial surface and grass field.

Please can all students be collected from the BACK of the school when being picked up from after school clubs and fixtures.