End-of-Year Newsletter
Dear Parent/Carer,
Thank You – A Message from the Headteacher
Thank you for another great year at Hurst Drive Primary School. Your children are an absolute delight to teach and talk to and they make our school the great place it is to learn in and work in.
For your interest, we had our longest waiting list yet for school places to join our Reception in September 2019 which goes to show that the hard work of my staff and your children is helping to raise the profile of our school in the local community.
You should also know that our Year 6 children achieved above the national average in reading, writing and maths in their SATs this year, demonstrating that the vast majority of our children leave Year 6 being ready for learning in secondary school. Well done to all of Year 6 (and the staff who have taught them along the way) for achieving such impressive results.
As we move into next year, we will continue to change things to help improve our school further and I know that I will continue to have your support in this regard.
I wish all of you a fun-filled Summer Holiday together as a family and please know, we will be here on Thursday 5th September 2019 at 8:40am to welcome your children back to school (and give you parents and carers some respite).
Please see below for some important notices regarding the new school year.
Yours sincerely,
Mr D Short
Headteacher
Attendance
Sadly, for a second year in a row our whole-school attendance (95.1%) is below the national average (95.8%).
Our aim is for every child to be in school each and every day. This is because absence and lateness mean lost learning time which has a terrible effect on your child's chances of success in education and adulthood.
If we use the current Year 6 as an example, those children with attendance above 96% outperformed those with attendance below 96%. Of the 20 children with attendance below 96%, 55% of them passed their SATs, whereas for the 39 children with attendance above 96%, 77% of them passed the tests.
Making sure your child attends school as much as possible means:-
- Your child will build friendships easily, making them happier and more confident;
- Your child will have the same education and opportunities as everyone else in the class;
- You won’t need to worry about catching up on work, or that your child might fall behind because of missing an important lesson; and,
- Your child won’t miss out on activities at the start and end of term which are often lots of fun!
We cannot continue with attendance being below the national average so please be aware of the following: -
- From September, if your child’s attendance drops below 96% (which will happen quickly in September if they are absent from school – for example, on a term-time holiday) you will receive a formal warning letter telling you we will no longer authorise an absence without medical proof; and,
- If after this, your child has 15 unauthorised absences (which is equivalent to 15 half days or 7 and a half full days) in the current or previous term, we will send you an Appendix A letter which means both parents will receive a fixed penalty notice soon after.
Regarding the fixed penalty notice, the amount payable is £60 per parent if paid within 21 days or £120 per parent if paid after 21 days but within 28 days of receipt of the notice.
If the notice remains unpaid after the expiry of the payment period and the Local Authority has not withdrawn the notice, the Local Authority will prosecute for the offence under section 444 of the Education Act 1996. All decisions to prosecute (or not) rest with the Local Authority.
We are aware that the fining process upsets parents and carers but please remember you have a legal duty to send your child to school and we must demonstrate that we as a school are doing all we can to address low attendance. We are hopeful that you will all support us with this.
School Uniform
From September, school uniform is changing so that it’s the same for all year groups.
Please visit the uniform tab under 'Parents' to see the new school uniform list, remembering that children in key stage 2 will no longer need to wear a tie and must wear a white polo shirt instead of a white button shirt.
Please do make sure your child is wearing smart black shoes and not trainers.
School Gateway
We need all our parents and carers to be using the School Gateway app. The School Gateway app can be used by parents/carers to complete the following tasks:
- Pay for school dinners;
- Pay for school milk for children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2;
- Pay for school trips; and,
- Book after-school clubs, including wraparound care from September 2019.
To set it up, click here and select new user. Type in the e-mail address and mobile number the school has for you and click 'send pin'. You will be sent your pin which you may then use to log in via the existing user tab.
You can also download the app from the app store you use on your mobile phone.
If you have any difficulty, speak to a member of the School Office in September.
Important Dates for the Autumn Term
We have updated the school calendar on the website to include lots of important dates for the autumn term and beyond. Please click here to read them.
We wish all of you a fantastic Summer Holiday.
The School Office Team
01992 624099
Please be aware that the administrative assistants will not be able to reply to any e-mails or voicemails until September. Thank you.