Attendance Update
As many of you will be aware, the law relating to unauthorised absences has changed with effect from this September. Our new attendance policy reflects this and will be on the website in early October, following ratification from the School's Governing Body. In the meantime, the information below explains the changes around attendance and fixed penalty notices.
We expect all of our children to attend school every day unless they are unwell or have an authorised absence. An absence is classed as unauthorised when a child is out of school without our permission. These would include holidays, day trips, visits to see family overseas or in the UK, celebrating family birthdays, staying home because someone else in the family is unwell and arriving at school late/after registration. If you need your child to be absent for any reason other than illness or a medical appointment, you must complete a leave of absence request form (available form the school office). We will consider all requests made and in rare and exceptional cases, we might be able to authorise the absence.
Any request for leave of absence due to holidays in term time will not be authorised. The DfE does not consider a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreational circumstance, and therefore there is no entitlement in law to time off in term time. Children who are absent from school fall behind in their learning and miss out on the social aspects of school. Many find it difficult to catch up with their peers. In addition, school staff have to support children following an absence and this has a negative impact on the learning of other children in the class.
In the case of unauthorised leave of absences, incurring 10 or more unauthorised sessions (5 days) within 10 school weeks, a referral will usually be made to the Local Authority for a fixed penalty notice to be issued or prosecution where repeated penalty notices have been issued. Where the threshold has not been met in the case of persistent avoidance, for example, repeated absence for birthdays or other family events, the school will have discretion to refer the case to the Local Authority. If in an individual case, the Local Authority believes a penalty notice would be appropriate, they retain the discretion to issue one before the threshold is met.
A penalty notice is an out of court settlement which is intended to change behaviour without the need for criminal prosecution. The threshold is 10 sessions of unauthorised absence. This can be made up of a combination of any type of unauthorised absence, all taken within any 10 school week period which may span different terms or school years (e.g. 2 sessions of unauthorised absence in the Summer Term and a further 8 within the Autumn Term).
From Autumn Term 2024, the Local Authority will only issue 2 penalty notices to the same parent in respect of the same child within a 3 year rolling period and any second notice within that period is charged at a higher rate. The first penalty notice issued to a parent in respect of a particular pupil will be charged at £160 if paid within 28 days. This will be reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days. A second penalty notice issued to the same parent in respect of the same pupil is charged at a flat rate of £160 if paid within 28 days. A third penalty notice cannot be issued to the same parent in respect of the same child within 3 years of the date of issue of the first. In a case where the national threshold is met for a third time (or subsequent times) within those 3 years, alternative action will be taken instead. This will include considering prosecution.
The Local Authority (Newcastle City Council) has issued a leaflet to summarise the use of fixed penalty notices and this is attached to your email.
If you have any concerns around attendance or you have any questions, please get in touch.
Kindness Challenge
Our work around kindness is continuing this term and we are challenging the children to show us as many acts of kindness as they can, no matter how small!
The Kindness Ambassadors will continue to look out for kindness in school and each child will be collecting tokens which they can add to their class totals.
Let us know if you spot any amazing acts of kindness at home too! We recently heard that one of our superstars in Year 4 organised a charity football match at home and we know that lots of families enjoyed taking part as well as raising money for his chosen charity. This made us all very proud - well done Jay!
The Great North Run
Congratulations to everyone who took part in the mini, junior or the main event Great North Run. It was wonderful to see so many children with their medals in assembly. We were very proud of everyone!
One of our superstars came second in his wave which is incredible and we were all very proud of his achievement.
We were also proud of Miss Storey and Mrs McMillan who took part in the half marathon on the Sunday and were still able to walk into assembly on Monday! What great role models they are!
Parents and Carers' Evenings
These provide an opportunity for teachers and parents/carers to talk about each child's progress, learning and well-being in school. We expect everyone to attend and you can book your appointment on ParentMail from 1st October. Parents and carers of children in Lapwing Class will be able to book their appointments on ParentMail at a later date, we will update you later.
All of the dates for Parents and Carers' evenings are on the calendar and the dates list.
Uniform Reminders
Earrings
Children are allowed to wear simple stud earrings for school. Other earrings can cause injuries and are not allowed. For PE, children must be able to take out their earrings, cover them with surgical tape (which you can put in their PE bags) or come to school with them covered with surgical tape. Due to the risk of infection, staff are not allowed to help children to remove or put in their earrings. Thank you for your support.
Lost Property
We already have lots of lost property this year. Please make sure that all items of clothing worn in school are labelled (a pen/marker will do!) and then we can easily return them to the right person. Thank you.
Pre-Loved Uniform Swap Shop
We are planning to make the pre-loved uniform available again on Parents and Carers' Evenings in a few weeks' time. You can swap uniform or make a donation and take what you need - we would love everything to be used and reused rather than sitting in boxes at school!