LPA Newsletter Friday 20th September 2024

Year 11 Parents Information Evening

Thank you to all Year 11 parents who supported us by attending our Year 11 Parents Information Evening on Thursday 19th September 2024.

The purpose of this was to provide a clear, and detailed outline of the forthcoming academic year to enable you to support us and your child to make the progress they need to support their next steps to LPA 6th Form or beyond.

Mr Cronin (Year 11 SLT Link) and Mr McGeown (Vice Principal) were on hand to give expert, first hand experience of the many challenges that this year may bring.

Year 10 Parent Information Evening – Thursday 26th September 6.00 p.m. - 7.00 p.m.

We invite you to attend this Yr 10 Parent Information evening where we will discuss the support on offer to enable all Yr 10 students to make a successful and purposeful start to their GCSE studies.

We would love to see you there!

Mr McGeown – Vice Principal and Mr Cronin Assistant Principal.

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 8.30 a.m. This is the time your child must be in school, ready to be marked into registers. Therefore, we ask that you ensure your child arrives at 8.30 a.m. and they are with their tutor by 8.40 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 Lodge Park who had above 90% attendance achieved half a grade higher than those who below this.

If you require any support or advice please get in touch via email us on attendance@lodgeparkacademy.co.uk

Kestrel Crowned Year 7 Rounders Cup Champions

On Friday last week the new year 7 students represented their house teams for the very first time in the annual LPA Rounders Cup. Over 50 students stayed behind afterschool in a bid to win the first set of house points, as Kestrel, Goshawk, Red Kite and Osprey went head to head in an action packed afternoon of rounders. Following three rounds of closely contested matches it was Kestrel house who were crowned champions with three wins from three. Goshawk, Red Kite and Osprey all finished on 5 points with one win and two draws each.

Champions Kestrel secured 75 house points with Goshawk, Red Kite and Osprey all picking up 15 points each for their joint finish.

It was great to see so many parents in attendance following their invite to spectate the event. The afternoon came to an exciting end, following the awarding of the rounders cup trophy to Kestrel, as an ice cream van was in attendance for all students, staff and parents to treat themselves at the end of what was a thoroughly enjoyable first event.

Congratulations to all who took part.

House Netball – Monday 23rd to Friday 27th September

House Netball takes place next week, running from Tuesday to Friday during lunchtimes. Year 11 competition will take place afterschool due to interventions.

Students who have been selected to represent their house in this event must bring in their PE Kits and get changed at the beginning of lunch.

Please note the following dates each year group are competing:

• Tuesday 24th September – Year 7
• Wednesday 25th September – Year 8
• Thursday 26th September – Year 9
• Friday 27th September – Year 10
• Friday 27th September – Year 11 (3.30pm start)

Students' Leave of Absence

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

LPA Uniform Suppliers

Please see communication below from our uniform suppliers…….

We’re back to school ready!

Parents who shop at SWI this summer will benefit from:

- Extended returns to 15th September in case of summer growth

- New improved sizing tools that help you get the right size, every time

- Our lowest offers across essential uniforms and additional accessories

- Sign up for our Summer Prize Draw and be in for a chance to win 1 in 20 £50 vouchers!

Please find link to Hub https://www.swischoolwear.co.uk/parent-guide?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=CAM&utm_campaign=BTS_Email2_Parenthub

St Columba's, Corby - 15th October 2024 7.30pm

Riding Lights Theatre Company is pleased to announce

"Cups on a String" by Bridget Foreman, a new play touring in partnership with Transforming Lives for Good, a Christian charity that helps churches to bring hope and a future to struggling children. A powerful and moving evening of theatre.

Alongside the performance of Cups on a String, the evening will provide an opportunity to hear about the work of Transforming Lives for Good, and how each of us can play a part in supporting the lives of struggling children.

"You think I’m some kind of broken kid and you just want to fix me. With games."

Joe’s eleven and home is hard. School is even harder. He breaks stuff: pencils, chairs, rules.

One thing he won’t break is his silence.

Heather’s fifty-seven. She’s got a comfortable life and a comfortable home. But her comfortable world is about to be turned upside down as she and Joe spend an hour a week together. Every week. For a year.

Where will this journey of hours and weeks take them?

Cups on a String is a warm-hearted and moving new play, developed from remarkable true stories. It’s about playfulness, listening and laughter, and how risk-taking and trust can lead to growth and transformation.

Challenging, surprising and beautifully hopeful, Cups on a String blends theatre, live music and digital technology to take you into the heart of the friendship between Heather and Joe, and the profound impact it has on them both.

​

AGE GUIDANCE: 14+

Tickets cost £15 for adults and £10 for under 18's, students, unemployed and senior citizens, can be purchased from Riding Lights by going to the following link:

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/northamptonshire/st-columbas-church/cups-on-a-string/2024-10-15/19:30/t-zzqnxyy