Attendance & Punctuality

BRANKSOME HEATH MIDDLE SCHOOL

24 April 2006

Dear Parent/Carer

ATTENDANCE AND PUNCTUALITY

I have written to you on several occasions about the importance of children attending school on a regular basis to ensure that they have every opportunity to benefit from their lessons.

We are working hard to increase the achievement of our youngsters but they can only learn if they are in school and are punctual. We begin every morning with intensive reading practice for all children. This has raised reading standards in our school considerably. Those children who arrive late, miss this valuable experience and often interrupt the rest of the class. It is unfair to sanction a child for lateness because it is all too frequently not their fault.

We appreciate that it is unwise to send a child to school when they are unwell but we must also guard against those occasions when our children may not be so keen to come to school! We have noticed that with some children, patterns of absence emerge where they may only attend school for three or four days per week. Normal, healthy children should be in school everyday. If your child is unwell, please phone the school before 10.00am to let us know the reason for the absence.

We are aware that many holiday companies offer vastly reduced prices during term time to encourage parents to fill their empty places, but this involves children being withdrawn from school. Please try to avoid this if at all possible. I am only allowed to authorise 10 school days absence during any one academic year. Any more than 10 days is regarded as unauthorised absence.

At present our attendance is significantly lower than both local and national expectations. I am worried that the education of a significant number of our youngsters is being adversely affected by their poor attendance.

In an attempt to improve attendance, we are introducing a revised range of incentives in school to reward individuals and classes who maintain a good attendance record throughout the term and year. These new measures will be in addition to our existing rewards and incentives. Your child will be able to tell you about these in detail.

Your child only has one chance for an effective education; please support us by ensuring that they are punctual and attend regularly.

Yours sincerely

J ROYLE
Headteacher