CRA Newsletter 01.11.2024 Half Term 2- November 2024

SLT Update

So lovely to welcome all our wonderful students back after the half term break. Personally, it has been great being back in the academy this week after a period away and to catch up with all the students and staff. The students have made a great start to the half term and are working hard on their revision and KPI assessments. On Thursday we had our annual pumpkin competition and students did a fantastic job being evermore inventive with their spooky designs! Next week year 11 start their first mock series. We wish them luck and know they will use their CRA courage, aspiration and resilience to approach their exams with distinction.

Ms King

Head of School

Year 11

To book your place click here.

Times Tables

At the end of all lessons students stand behind their chairs in silence to prepare for themselves for the next lesson. From September, on a weekly rota, Years 7 and 8 will be reciting their timetables to help embed them in their long term memory.

Week beginning - 4 November 2024 - Times table is 8

Accelerated Reading

Week beginning - 4th November 2024 - Period 4

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 coping.

The 7 Cs of resilience

Originally developed for children and teenagers by US-based paediatrician Kenneth Ginsberg (2014), the 7 Cs of resilience can also be used in an adult context. They are:

• 1. Competence – knowing how to handle situations effectively.
• 2. Confidence – knowing you are competent.
• 3. Connection – having close ties to family, friends and community.
• 4. Character – having a fundamental sense of right and wrong.
• 5. Contribution – contributing to your community, which can bring a sense of purpose.
• 6. Coping – learning to cope with stress.
• 7. Choice not chance– understanding that you can control the outcomes of your decisions.

Reflecting on how developed each of your son/daughter's Cs are can give you and them an insight into where they might need to do work on. For example, they might need to develop better coping strategies, or rebuild important personal connections that have slipped over time.

The Resilience doughnut

Lyn Worsley (2006) has developed a model for personal resilience that illustrates different factors of internal and external support using a clear and colourful image.

This model covers three internal and seven external factors. The internal factors are: I have (resources), I am (self-esteem) and I can (self-efficacy). The external factors focus on support from parents, skills acquired, family networks, education and relationships with teachers, peer friendships, community links and money, i.e. economic stability.

By identifying our strongest positive factors and reconnecting with those in times of crisis, the support and encouragement we receive can help us to be more resilient, providing a sense of purpose to help us recover, sustain and grow through a crisis.

Worsley goes on to suggest that resilient adults will have identified at least three strong factors which they can reconnect with during times of stress or crisis, enabling them to survive and thrive.

Week 7 Coping – learning to cope with stress.

Life is about making choices. Stress is a part of life — an uncomfortable reality. We do what we can to minimize discomfort. The choices we make to cope with our discomfort can be negative or positive. Negative ones can work in the short run, but bring great harm to us and our communities in the long run. So many of the quick-fix behaviors we hope our children never choose are negative coping strategies. Telling our children what not to do barely makes an impact and sometimes backfires. Instead, when we raise them with a range of healthy coping strategies (and model them as well), they make wiser, healthier choices during challenging times.

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.

Rowvember 2024

Today is the start of the trust-wide initiative, Rowvember. During the month of November, we are encouraging the whole CRA Community to participate in indoor rowing as much as possible. We are asking students, staff and family members to support us in rowing 700km between eight of the Universities on our Houseopoly board. If any family members wish to support us in this challenge, please can photos of the distances completed on a rowing machine be sent to afountain@charlesreadacademy.co.uk. Your entries will also count towards the CRA House Competition.

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.