Dear Parents and Carers,

Punctuality – A BIG THANK YOU!

On behalf of all the staff in school, can I thank you all for your support in improving punctuality! The vast majority of children are now arriving on time, ready to start their learning at 8.50am. Fantastic! This is already making a big difference to the quality of teaching and learning and your support is very much appreciated.

Celebration Assembly

As you know, we are having a Celebration Assembly every Monday morning at 9am in the school hall. Children are presented with special Headteacher’s Awards, celebrating their success. We are very keen on involving parents and carers in this celebration and we will be inviting you to these assemblies if your child is receiving an award.

Names of the children receiving an award will be published each week in this newsletter and parents can access the hall through the entrance at the far end of the school by the lane, opposite the gate to Fr Michael’s house.

The next Celebration Assembly will be on Monday 1^st Februaryat 9am, where the following children will receive their Headteacher's Award: Rosa-Louise (R), Lexi (Y1), Kezia (Y2), Filip (Y3), Lily R (Y4), Ester K (Y5) and Bethany S (Y6).

Pupil Premium

All children currently in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are entitled to eat a free hot lunch every day, funded by the Government.  The school needs to check if any of these children would be entitled to Free School Meals when they move to the Juniors.  At parents evening we will be will asking parents of these children to complete a consent form to allow the school to use their information to check against records held by the Department of Work and Pensions. We appreciate this support as it may give us more financial resources to support your children.

Local Clubs

Parents have been enquiring about local clubs for their children. To help we would like to publish contact details of clubs and organisations in the local area. If you know of a good club or group please let us know, so we can share details with the whole school community.

Attendance! Attendance! Attendance!

Thank you all for your support. Our attendance is continuing to improve.

Well done to the following classes who had attendance at over 97% last week:

·         Year 2 with 98% attendance again!

·         Year 4 with 97% attendance.

·         Year 5 with 97% attendance.

This week Reception have had an amazing 99% attendance, so they will have a special non-uniform day on the last day of term.

Dates for Diaries

Tuesday 3^rd February                            -           Parent’s Evening

Wednesday 4^th February                      -           Parent’s Evening

Friday 5^th February                               -           End of Term 3

Monday 15^th February                         -           Start of Term 4

Monday 9^th May                                  -           Start of Y6 SATs week

Yours sincerely

Matt Condon

Headteacher

Dear Parents and Carers,

Celebration Assembly

As you know we will now be having a Celebration Assembly every Monday morning at 9am in the school hall. Children will be presented with special Headteacher’s Awards, celebrating their success. We are very keen on involving parents and carers in this celebration and we will be inviting you to these assemblies.

Names of children receiving an award will be published each week in this newsletter and parents can access the hall through the entrance at the far end of the school by the lane, opposite the gate to Fr Michael’s house.

The next Celebration Assembly will be on Monday 25th January at 9am, where the following children will receive their Headteacher's Award: Ian (R), Isabel (Y1), Wiktoria (Y2), Bradley (Y3), Elly (Y4), Blaise (Y4), Dylan (Y5), Kaja (Y6) and Fiona (Y6).

Use of the Bike Shed – a reminder

Following a request from a parent, and to encourage children to come into school on time, we will now be opening the bike shed to all children.

The bike shed will be locked at the start of the school day (8.50am) so children need to be in school on time to lock up their bikes or scooters.

Attendance! Attendance! Attendance!

Thank you all for your support. Our attendance is improving.

Well done to the following classes who had attendance at over 97% attendance last week:

·         Year 1 again with 97%.

·         Year 2 with 98% attendance.

·         Year 5 with 100% attendance!

A big well done to Year 5 who, because of 100% attendance, will have a special non-uniform day on Friday 29^th January

Leave of absence during term time

We must remind all parents that the Headteacher CANNOT authorise any leave of absence during term time unless for exceptional circumstances.  Any requests must be made in writing on a form available from the school office and must be made at least ten days before leave is due to commence.  Any leave taken that has not been considered exceptional will be recorded as unauthorised.  There will be two unauthorised absences recorded for each day - morning and afternoon.  If there are eight or more unauthorised absences recorded within a ten week period, the school can issue a penalty notice.  This will be £60 per child for each parent, meaning a possible penalty charge of £120 per child.

We appreciate that holidays taken during term time can be much cheaper than those taken during the school holidays but we have a legal responsibility to ensure that every child is attending school and receiving their education.

Lateness

A big thank you to those who always arrive on time, or who have improved their punctuality this last week. Punctuality is getting better so keep it up!

School Uniform

Please can we remind you that children should be wearing the following school uniform:-

·         Grey / Black trousers or skirts

·         Red Sweatshirt or cardigan or fleece

·         White / red polo shirts

·         PLAIN BLACK SHOES

Parking

Please be considerate when parking your car to drop off or pick your child up from school and do not park in driveways of local residents.

Dates for Diaries

Tuesday 3^rd February                            -           Parent’s Evening (please return your slip ASAP)

Wednesday 4^th February                      -           Parent’s Evening (please return your slip ASAP)

Friday 5^th February                               -           End of Term 3

Monday 15^th February                         -           Start of Term 4

Monday 9^th May                                  -           Start of Y6 SATs week

Yours sincerely

Matt Condon

Headteacher

Dear Parents and Carers,

It seems like I’ve been here a lot longer than two weeks! Again, I would like to say a thank you to all for such a great experience so far at School of Christ the King.

In particular, can I thank all parents for being so welcoming and friendly when I’m out on the school gates at the start of the school day. Especially can I thank parents and carers who are supporting their children by getting to school by 8.50am (more about that later).

Celebration Assemblies

School of Christ the King is a great school and we are very proud of our children’s achievements.

To celebrate these we will be having a Celebration Assembly every Monday morning at 9am in the school hall. Children will be presented with special Headteacher’s Awards, celebrating their success. We are very keen on involving parents and carers in this celebration and we will be inviting you to these assemblies.

Names of children receiving an award will be published each week in this newsletter and parents can access the hall through the entrance at the far end of the school by the lane, opposite the gate to Fr Michael’s house.

The first Celebration Assembly will be on Monday 18th January at 9am, where the following children will receive their Headteacher's Award:  William (R), Cody W (R), Kristen K (Y1), Gracie R (Y1), Oscar N (Y2), Summer S (Y2), Kallie Anna C (Y3), Logan V (Y3), Chloe M (Year 4), Bethany (Y5) and Maggie V (Y6).

Use of the Bike Shed

Following a request from a parent, and to encourage children coming into school on time, we will now be opening the bike shed to all children.

The bike shed will be locked at the start of the school day (8.50am) so children need to be in school on time to lock up their bikes or scooters.

Attendance! Attendance! Attendance!

Coming to Christ the King, I was surprised about pupils’ overall low attendance levels. Christ the King’s attendance is in the lowest 10% nationally and not getting any better. This obviously impacts on learning and needs to quickly improve.

My main concerns are:

• Far too many children being absent on a regular basis due to illness.
• An unacceptable number of absences due to holidays (including long weekends).
• A very high number of medical appointments are taken in school time (as most appointments should be made for after school)

 As you may well already know, Headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. Absences can only be authorised in exceptional circumstances.

                                                         

The school will do its best to work with parents and we will resist taking action such as fining because we want to maintain good relationships and behave in a reasonable manner. Overall, my experience at St Joseph’s is that this approach is almost always successful.

Unfortunately when absences are unreasonable, the school has no choice but to consider taking further action when excessive leave is taken in term time. This action is likely to include referring the matter to the Education Welfare Office and issuing fines.

We would ask for your support in this matter and arrange any holidays and family visits to fall within the average twelve weeks of school holidays.

Where attendance is a concern, we will be asking parents to come into school and discuss matters further.

Promoting Good Attendance

To promote improvement, we will now be publishing which classes have good attendance each week. Classes with 99% or 100% attendance will be rewarded with a special non-uniform day the following week. We will also expect these classes for children to be punctual almost all of the time to win a non-uniform day. 

Dates for non-uniform will be published in the newsletter.

We are also planning ways to celebrate the attendance of individual children who have 100% attendance every term. This will be announced soon.

Lateness

Firstly a big thank you to those who always arrive on time, or who have improved their punctuality this last week.

However, there are still too many children who are arriving late for school which starts at 8.50am.   

This Tuesday 17 children arrived late for school which was very disruptive to the school and the children.

Children who arrive late often come to school unsettled and embarrassed. Where lateness is an ongoing concern, we will be asking parents to come into school and discuss matters further.

Last Week’s Attendance

Well done to the following classes who had attendance at over 97% attendance last week:

·                     Year 1 with 97%

·                     Year 5 with 97%

With slightly better attendance these classes will be getting a special non-uniform day.

Dates for Diaries

Tuesday 3^rd February                            -           Parent’s Evening (details coming soon)

Wednesday 4^th February                      -           Parent’s Evening (details coming soon)

Friday 5^th February                               -           End of Term 3

Monday 15^th February                         -           Start of Term 4

Monday 9^th May                                  -           Start of Y6 SATs week

Yours sincerely

Matt Condon

Headteacher

Hello to the School of Christ the King School Community,

Firstly can I say a tremendous thank you for the very warm welcome I have received this week. 

I have been so impressed with the children, who have been polite, well-focused on their work and shared a real sense of fun and warmth with me. It's great to join a staff team who are incredibly proud of the children and are working so hard to make each day in school special. It was also lovely being welcomed by and talking to so many parents, who again are so proud of this school and their children.

Mrs. Peachey has been an amazing Headteacher, and I am very proud to be leading the school into the future.

Regular Newsletters

We expect the best from our children and I am very keen on celebrating this success with the whole school community (especially parents and carers). I also want to establish regular contact with you all so we can share news, celebrate success and tell you all how we are improving this school (and how you can help us in doing so).

To support this we are now sending out a weekly newsletter which will be available on the school website. To make this newsletter easy to access we will be texting parents with a link that enables you to read it easily on phones and other mobile devices. This newsletter will be sent out on a Friday by text and on the website. A paper copy will be available on request from the school office.

Next week’s newsletter will include news about how we want to share great achievements with parents and carers as well as some dates for diaries.

After-School Clubs

All after-school clubs will be starting next week.

Yours sincerely,

Matt Condon

Headteacher