The Chronicle

Dear Parents 

This week we have seen another fun-filled, packed week with lots going on. Although rather wet and cold, this has not held us back in a host of action taking place this week, including sports fixtures and forest school.

Two of our J6 pupils, Ben and Isabella, represented the school at the ISA Skiing Championships on Monday in Hemel Hempstead. Well done to both pupils who did so well and, most importantly, had a great time!

We celebrated our Harvest Mass on Tuesday, which aligns so perfectly with our ethos. We share with others, take care of each other and appreciate what we have. We appreciate all that Father Kevin does for our school community, for his generosity of spirit and time in celebrating our school Masses. Thank you also to Mrs Forino for her contribution to the religious life of the school and to Mrs Olden, the Junior 5L staff and the pupils who had leading roles at Mass. It was, as always, lovely to be joined by parents, grandparents and parishioners.

Mrs Van Zyl led an online Parents Evening earlier this week which focussed on reading. Thank you to Mrs Van Zyl for her planning and preparation and we hope the session has proved to be helpful to those who attended.  We will be adding more parent workshops to out training schedule over the course of the year as we feel this will greatly help the pupils, and their parents, on their educational journey.

Congratulations to this week’s Stars of the Week: Nursery – Kabir; Rec - Layla and Oliver; J1 - Rosie and Edward; J2 – Jacob and Autumn; J3 – Bevan and Saffie; J4 – Fiorella and Lily-Rose; J5 – Hugo and Alfie; J6 – Gwen and Diya. As always, I appreciate all the hard work invested by our children each day and it is a privilege to celebrate and acknowledge this whenever possible.  Well, done to all our stars of the week!

We were treated to three wonderful musical performances at assembly today. Congratulations to Faryal and Casper on their beautiful singing and to Diya for her superb piano performance. I really enjoyed listening to all three pupils – well done to you!

Thank you very much to the staff members and parents who supported the PTA quiz last Friday. Special thanks also go to Mrs Maria Gordon and her band of helpers for organising a very enjoyable evening (the cheese boards were delicious) and to Sorcha Horan and Wendy Duigan for helping me with the running of the quiz part of the evening.

I hope that everyone is able to have a most relaxing and enjoyable weekend with friends and family.

God bless, 
Rob Duigan 

"Remember that nothing is small in the eyes of God. Do all that you do with love." - St Therese of Lisieux

The Choral and Orchestra group will be playing in the KS2 Assembly on Friday 11 October.  Parents are welcome to attend.

School photographers Gillman & Soame will be attending school on Tuesday 8 October to take class and individual photographs.

Winter Uniform

We would ask all children to wear their winter uniform to school, as detailed below:

Winter Pinafore, white shirt, tie, black socks or tights, black school shoes and blazer.

Black trousers, white shirt, tie, black socks, black school shoes and blazer.

If your child has sport on this day, they will need to bring their sport kit in a named bag, and will be allowed time to change after their photograph has been taken.

Online Ordering

An email has been sent out this week to all parents who have not yet signed up to online ordering from Gillman & Soame Photographers.

This new ordering approach, which was trialled last year, has been devised by Gillman & Soame to elimate proof cards from the process.  They will notify you electronically, once a photograph of your child becomes available to view and purchase.

Please do follow the instructions on this email, and sign up to online ordering.

Monday 14 and Wednesday 16 October 2024

Online Parents' Evening Meetings will be taking place on Monday 14 and Wednesday 16 October 2024.

For children in Reception to Junior 5, this will be a 10 minute pastoral meeting with your child's forrm teacher.

For children in Junior 6, this will be a 5 minute academic progress meeting with both your child's English and Maths teachers.

Bookings can be made through My School Portal here: htttps/princethorpe.myschoolportal.co.uk

Bookings will close on Thursday 10 October at 10:00pm.

A parent guide to booking on My School Portal is available here

Ahead of the upcoming meetings, the new Reception to Junior 5 Pastoral Report will be issued on Friday 11 October 2024, providing insight into how your child has settled into their new year group.

We look forward to discussing your child's progress in greater detail during the meetings.

October Half Term Holiday club will be running from Monday 21 October to Friday 1 November 2024.

A programme of activities will be available as soon as it is finalised, but if you wish to book in advance of this, please email holidayclub@crackleyhall.co.uk to make your booking.

The Crackley Hall Junior Da Vinci programme encourages all pupils to be inspired to be the best that they can be. The Junior Da Vinci programme embraces three adapted principles - Creativity, Practice and Mastery - that the children demonstrate in their learning.

This year we are ensuring that all pupils in the school have opportunities to achieve Junior Da Vinci awards. The attached leaflet gives more information about this programme. 

Chronicle Da Vinci leaflet

Look out for news of the children achieving Junior Da Vinci's in the Chronicle over the year.

Please see detailed below events for the first half of the Michaelmas Term.

Over the summer holidays, 18 Crackley Hall pupils completed the Marvellous Makers Summer Reading Challenge. To recognise their reading achievement, at break time today, Mrs Van Zyl, Crackley Hall’s English Lead, gathered the pupils together to award them a ‘Practice’ Junior da Vinci and a special bookmark prize.

Organised in conjunction with Warwickshire Libraries and The Reading Agency, The Marvellous Makers reading challenge aimed to fire up children’s imaginations and develop their storytelling and creative skills. Over the course of the school holidays, pupils were encouraged to read six books from their local library. Every child who completed the challenge received a Marvellous Makers certificate.

It was a great way to keep pupils reading, especially when the children weren’t in the classroom, and Mrs Van Zyl was impressed with how many pupils took part. A number of them read many more books than the six required, with Ralph reading a total of 14 and even being invited to receive his certificate from the local Mayor in a presentation at Kenilworth Library.

It was lovely to hear of the children’s summer reading exploits; reading for pleasure is one of the most important skills a child can learn. 

Yesterday, Thursday 3 October, children across school celebrated National Poetry Day by exploring a wide range of poems, many linked to the core texts they have been studying.

Junior 2 read the hilarious poem Rapunzel by Kenn Nesbitt. In this alternative version of the traditional tale, Rapunzel decides that she has had quite enough of hanging around waiting for Prince Charming to rescue and marry her and, instead, cuts off her billowing tresses and follows her own dreams to join a rock and roll band. Junior 2 had great fun performing this poem with great gusto and it has definitely inspired some poets amongst them.

Children in Junior 3 and Junior 4 worked extra hard in their performances of their LAMDA poems. The children focussed on communicating the joy of the poems through their vocal and facial expression which, in turn, brought smiles to the faces of the audience. The benefits to both the performing children and the ones watching was palpable.

What lovely ways to celebrate such an important day in our calendar.

October is Black History Month in the UK. This year, we have decided to move away from termly and half termly JDV challenges and are using a monthly theme to suggest activities to challenge and interest pupils.

Each month different activities will be suggested. Pupils do not have to complete all, or any of these activities. They are available to all pupils in all years, so pupils can choose to investigate something that they are interested in.  

Please bring any examples of activities that have been completed to Mrs Cowlishaw to share with the whole school.

Black History Month – October

In the UK, Black History Month is a national celebration that aims to promote and celebrate the contributions Black people have made to society. It’s also an opportunity to promote an understanding of Black history more widely and gives everyone the opportunity to share, celebrate and understand the impact of black heritage and culture.

2024’s theme is 'Reclaiming Narratives'. This is about recognising and correcting the narratives of Black history and culture.

Here are some activities to try:

Art

Investigate the life of famous artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Alma Thomas, can you create your own piece in their style?

The Brilliance of Basquiat

How to create an Alma Thomas collage for kids

Music

Here is an example of a listening calendar for October. Songs from 20 amazing, influential musicians. Which one is your favourite? Did this inspire you to listen to more music by any of these artists?

Sport

Find out about the lives of these famous sports people. What makes them so inspirational? How have they used their fame to change lives of others? Can you find any others that are just as inspirational to add to our list?

• Marcus Rashford
• Lewis Hamilton
• Tessa Sanderson

Historical Figures

These people have all been influential and have made history by doing something amazing. What can you find out about them? Can you find out about other historical figures to celebrate Black History Month?

• Walter Tull
• Mary Seacole
• Samuel Coleridge Taylor
• Diane Abbott
• Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock

Poetry

This week we celebrated National Poetry Day. Benjamin Zephaniah was a pioneer of dub poetry and one of the most influential and outspoken voices in contemporary British literature, and he was from Birmingham.

Here is his poem about Christmas Turkey. Do you like his style? What do you think his poem is about? Can you create two lines of poetry that rhyme, from the Christmas Turkey perspective? Write your own poem in Benjamin Zephaniah’s style.

"Talking Turkeys" Kinetic Text

Recommended reads – have a look at some of these books to expand you reading horizons.

• Race to the Frozen North – Catherine Johnson (The story of Matthew Henson and Captain Peary and the race to the North Pole)
• Respect – Michaela Morgan (Based on the amazing true story of Walter Tull)
• Hidden Figures – Margot Shetterly & Laura Freeman (A picture book of the incredible true story of the four women who helped NASA launch men into space)
• Counting on Katherine – Helaine Becker (A non-fiction book celebrating the life of Katherine Johnson, a mathematician who played a crucial role in the Apollo 11 mission to put a man on the moon)

I hope you enjoy these activities – please let me know how you get on, and bring in some examples of things you have found out!

Mrs Cowlishaw

The school celebrated Mass on Tuesday for the harvesting of food around the world and of the importance of looking after others in a wider community. Father Kevin, who led the Mass along with pupils from Junior 5S, offered the Mass for the life of the school. 

Father Kevin delivered a thoughtful homily that connected the feast days of two saints - St Therese of Lisieux (1 October) and St Francis of Assisi (4 October). By drawing parallels between these two saints, Fr Kevin emphasised their shared mission of helping God's kingdom flourish. From Saint Therese with her idea that small actions matter, and from St Francis on how we are all brothers and sisters - from the moon, the stars and the importance of caring for water resources and forests. Father Kevin concluded by encouraging everyone to perform small acts of love in God's world so it is a beautiful place to live.

Junior 5, pupil, Patrick has come up with a lovely fundraising suggestion that we just could not let pass us by.

From Monday 7 October, Patrick will be bringing in a limited daily supply of his homegrown pumpkins to sell here at school, there will be a variety on offer, the traditional orange ones, but also green and white varieties and maybe even different shapes too. They will be replenished daily.

Thank you to Patrick for this wonderful idea for raising money for charity, we will let you know how he gets on. 

If you would like your child to buy a pumpkin, please send in either £5, £3 or £2, and we will send your child home with one.

Once they`ve gone, they`ve gone! 

Our Stars of the Week this week are: 

Congratulations to them all!

We love to celebrate our pupils' talents, so every week in Celebration Assembly, we hear of the children's successes and achievements and we watch performances by some of our pupils.  Here are some photos from this morning.

A huge well done to all!

This week Junior 6 have been giving their all in lessons. How apt for a week where they have been working with fractions in Maths! In English, the children have been focusing on how character descriptions are built up. They explored the ‘show, not tell’ technique where writers use powerful adjectives, adverbs, and descriptive verbs to create emotional attachment in the reader and allow them to draw their own conclusions about a character. After reading a text about a fictional teacher called Mr Mortis who floats around school with a ‘disapproving sneer’ and has a ‘dagger-like stare’, the children felt reassured that he was not their teacher!

This half-term, Junior 5L have been learning all about the Aztecs. The children have written a paragraph about Tenochtitlan (the city that the Aztecs built on Lake Texcoco to live and grow food on). They also wrote about how the Aztecs came to settle on the lake. Interesting and vibrant Aztec mosaics have been created using colouring pencils. In Art, Junior 5 have been studying Aztec faces and using what they have discovered to design their very own Aztec faces, ready to be made out of tin foil, string, pencil and paint.

Junior 4 have had a fantastic week. We have been learning about recording data of our favourite vertebrates using tally charts and translating this into bar graphs. We have also been discovering all about the rebellion of Queen Boudica and the reasons why she fought against the Romans. On Thursday, we travelled to Eversfield for a football match and played really well against a strong team. Well done, Junior 4!

Junior 3 have been using Forest School to immerse themselves fully in the Stone Age experience this week. The children have been working in small groups to explore the woodland using all of their five senses; sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch. By experiencing the woodland first-hand, the children were able to generate plenty of ambitious adjectives to be able to describe their new surroundings. Once these were recorded by video for their digital journals, and then onto paper back in the classroom, the children then used this wonderful new word bank to enhance their descriptions of Stone Age woodland during a writing lesson. Well done, Junior 3, it’s been lovely to read your brilliant writing off the back of this lesson!

This week, Junior 2 have been continuing with their learning around the Rapunzel story. They have worked towards writing their own diary entry as Rapunzel, using accurate punctuation and building in adjectives and time conjunctions too! They have also started their latest creation in art, in which they are making their own version of Rapunzel using a range of different materials. We can't wait to see what they can create!

Junior 1 have been busy bees again this week. They have learnt to use a part-whole diagram in Maths and used it to create addition number sentences, which in turn linked to building up their knowledge of number bonds within 10. In English, they had the chance to become the Little Red Hen and write a letter to the animals asking them to help her on the farm and not to be so lazy doing nothing all day long! Geography introduced a compass to help with directions, which were used to help place animals in specific places on a grid, while in History features of Victorian homes were considered to help sort homes into those built in Victorian times and those that were newer or older.

Our Reception children have been busy comparing objects and pictures by size this week - and really enjoyed listening to the story Where's My Teddy by Jez Alborough as an introduction to big and small.  We organised tea parties for our bears, then chose food according to size and recorded it all in our books. We have also been busy in Art lessons, finishing our work on Picasso by cutting up, and reassembling our own faces to create our own crazy cubist portraits. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your support in making sure everyone is in the right uniform on the right day - but can we just ask you to check that labels are still attached to clothing - especially black PE tops and warm coats. As the weather is changing we need them more - and when they get taken off, mix ups easily happen!

Mrs Horan led an inspiring Monday Mission assembly that connected the school's ethos to the life and teachings of St Therese of Lisieux, whose feast day was celebrated 1 October.  Mrs Horan emphasised the importance of creating a family astmosphere within our school, where every individual feels loved and valued, which in turn helps us to love, learn and grow. Saint Therese, the Patron Saint of Missionaries, is special within our school as she is the house saint for Jupiter and the whole of this week has been dedicated to her life and work. Saint Therese wanted to do little acts of kindness to help other people. Often referred to as the 'Little Way', this encourages us all to find opportunities for kindness each day. Mrs Horan asked pupils how they too could do this.  Responses included:-

• Saying kind words
• Helping people who have fallen down
• Donating unused items
• Using good manners

Pupils from Junior 6 helped with prayers and facts about St Therese, and Mrs Horan ended the assembly with a powerful message: if St Therese could perform little acts of kindness with love, so can we.

Please click on the link below for this week's Weekly Mission:

Weekly Mission

A huge well done to our Crackley Hall skiers who had a fabulous time on Monday 30 September, at the ISA National Indoor Ski Championships at Hemel Hempstead Snow Centre.

Junior 6 pupils, Ben and Isabella, both did brilliantly, flying down the slopes like professional racers, showing amazing confidence and determination against stiff competition.

We were delighted to hear that they had a great time, what a fantastic experience for them. Many thanks to their parents for taking the children, but also for their nerves of steel while watching on the day!

We are thrilled to have skiing as one of the many competitive sporting opportunities available to pupils in Key Stage 2. Do let Mr Stedeford know if there are any other keen skiers who would like to take part in this competition next year.

Week Beginning Monday 7 October 2024

Please remember to check team sheets and find further fixture information on www.crackleyhallsport.co.uk or on SOCS.

Please can we remind all parents that whilst sports fixture information, once published, usually remains the same, parents should check www.crackleyhallsport.co.uk or SOCS on the day of the fixture for the most up to date information.

Information on our Michaelmas Clubs, including pick up location and times, can be found below:

Michaelmas 2024 Clubs Timetable

Reception and Key Stage 1

This half term’s House Art Competition is to create a wonderful superhero, please see the link below for the instructions.

Key Stage 2

For this competition we would like pupils to design your own comic strip, please see the link below for the instructions.

The winner of the KS2 competition will also get to design a new comic strip using the superhero from the winner of the Reception/KS1 entries.

Good Luck!

The instructions can be found here.

• 1st place - 25 house points
• 2nd place - 20 house points
• 3rd place - 10 house points
• All entries will receive 5 house points

Closing date is Tuesday 15 October.  Please hand your entries in to Ms Holmes.

All the nursery children enjoyed a fun filled music session with Mrs Olden this week, as part of their weekly timetable. They warmed up to Staying Alive by the Bee Gees and ended the session playing the instruments, which were shaken and banged with gusto; fast, slow, loud, quietly.

In Dormice we have been emptying and filling. Miss Mary brought some loose lavender in for us to use. We have all been very chilled this week.

We got the paint and brushes out on the table to practise our gross motor skills and most of the paint stayed on the table.

Badgers and Hedgehogs have blown our socks off with the way in which they have embraced this week’s activities and how they have begun to help each other around the classroom.

When your child presents you with a painting at the end of the day, there are a considerable number of individual steps to success; so we thought we would share the process with you.

• First put on a painting apron, otherwise known as a ‘tummy coat’ because having learned how to put on their coats ‘the right way round’, they now need to remember that an apron goes on like a back-to-front coat!
• Then ask a friend to do up the Velcro fastener at the back of the neck so that it stays on.
• Next retrieve a sheet of art paper from the basket.
• Then hold the paper on the easel with one hand whilst you anchor it in place with two magnets, which need to be positioned near the top of the sheet so that they’re not in the way as you paint.
• Next create a masterpiece, remembering not to replace the paintbrushes into the wrong colour pot of paint, otherwise everything ends up ‘brown’.
• Ask an adult to add your name so your work doesn’t get mixed up with anyone else’s.
• Then remember not to peel off the apron before first asking a friend to hold up the drying rack for you.
• Negotiate removing the magnets and holding the now wet paper away from your body so that it doesn’t fold up on itself before you make it safely to the drying rack.
• Then make sure that when you position your masterpiece, it’s squarely on the rack shelf so that it doesn’t slip off or get accidentally knocked off by the next child.
• Next, take off the ‘tummy coat’ and hang it up on the hooks ready for the next artist.
• Finally, wash the paint off your hands so that you don’t spread paint all over the rest of the resources as you take your learning to the next station of your choice.

Phew!! A hearty well done to all our amazing preschoolers who are trying their hardest to access the easel with as little help from a strategically positioned, hovering adult, as possible.

We have scheduled two upcoming dates for informal parent meetings, for those children in Badgers and Hedgehogs (Dormice will be later in the term).

More information will follow, so please save the dates for now and if you have any questions, email emmabirch@brackleyhall.co.uk

• Monday 14 October - 4.00pm to 5:30pm
• Friday 18 October - 4.00pm to 5:30pm

Macmillan Coffee Morning

It was soggy but it didn't dampen our spirits as many PTA members braved the rain to collect cakes and donations for Macmillan. A huge thank you to everyone who baked and bought so many delicious treats, the children were so excited and had an absolute ball at break time!

We raised a total of £770 for Macmillan, a stunning result!

Headmaster's Mayoral Quiz

As if there were not enough excitement at the Macmillan coffee morning, in the evening we welcomed several parents and Mayoral guests to our school to put their wits against each other in a fun and friendly quiz. Wine was flowing to accompany a generous cheeseboard and everyone really enjoyed the chance to socialise inbetween the rounds of questions.

The teachers did well in the quiz and it was very close with just one point between the winners and the second team!  See the photos for a peek of the happy winners.

A lot of effort went into making the event a success. A big thank you to the Mayor of Kenilworth, Mr Alan Chalmers, Lady Mayoress, Eva Zanyi, and Mr Duigan for a fun and informative set of questions, and to Mrs Sorcha Horan and Mrs Wendy Duigan for efficient collation of scores.

It was a pleasure to hear so many parents and teachers tell others how much they enjoyed the relaxing evening together. We raised a brilliant total of £880, which will be split evenly between the Kenilworth Waverley Day Centre as the Mayoral charity and our own PTA for the benefit of the children.

Christmas Cheer

We are planning lots of goodies for Christmas! The children have worked incredibly hard to bring to life their Father Christmas designs, which will look fabulous on cards, gift tags, baubles and mugs as very special and unique presents for friends and family.

Look out for the proof card of their design before half term.

Save the date!

The Christmas Fair is set to be another child centred and fun filled extravaganza for our Crackley community. Lots of the old favourite stalls such as the bottle and chocolate tombolas and a few new ones too. 

Join us for an enchanting afternoon on Saturday 30 November. Mark your calendars!

You will notice that instead of a hard copy calendar, this year we have a new digital calendar. It includes an interactive contents pages and handy live links to emails, websites and phone numbers. All can be easily downloaded onto your device of choice and the calendar is designed to be mobile friendly for ease of reference.

All the schoool's publications can also be found on My School Portal under School Information and will be updated during the year as necessary.

This move to a ‘digital first’ approach for our publications, is part of the Foundation’s drive to be more sustainable, reducing paper use, printing and postage costs and providing a more user-friendly experience.

Michaelmas Calendar Card

School Day Timings

The school day commences at 8:30am promptly, and pupils should arrive at 8:20am for registration, to ensure that that they have plenty of time to get to their first lesson punctually.

Early Birds runs from 7:45am to 8:20am.

Any pupils arriving after 8:30am, must sign in at the School Office.

End of the day collection times and locations are as follows:

Registration

Pupils are electronically registered in the morning and after lunch. Registration closes at 8:30am and all children arriving after this time, will need to register with the School Office on arrival. Lateness is recorded and monitored closely. Persistent lateness and/or absence from school will clearly affect a pupil’s achievement and learning.

End of the day collection times and locations are as follows:

End of the day collection times and locations after Games Lessons (if not taking part in sports clubs) during the Michaelmas Term are as follows:

If you wish your child to have music tuition at school, then please complete the attached form and return it back to the school office. 

Reception are able to undertake Violin lessons only. Pupils in Junior 1 can access the full range of lessons available. 

Expression of Interest Form

Please see the attached menus for the Michaelmas Term. These rotate on a four weekly basis.

Menu Week 1

Menu Week 2

Menu Week 3

Menu Week 4

Please ensure that everything your child brings to school is clearly labelled.  This especially includes uniform and sports kit. Excellent personalised labels may be purchased from easy2name.com or ablelabels.co.uk. We ask for support from parents to ensure that their children take full responsibility for looking after their property carefully.

We discourage pupils from bringing valuable items into school.

Lost property will be displayed outside The Gables on a Friday for collecting.  At the end of each half term, any unclaimed items will be donated to charity or the PTA.

Individual Health and Medical Information

Further to the email that was sent out regarding your child's health notes on ISAMS, please do remember to check this for accuracy and update the School Office accordingly.

Diarrhoea and Vomiting 

Children must stay off school for 48 hours after the last instance of diarrhoea or vomiting.

Short-Term Medicines 

In general, most short-term medicines, e.g. antibiotics, cough medicine, seasonal hay fever medication etc should be managed so that it is not necessary for the medicines to come into school.

If this is not possible, the medication should be brought to the School Office by yourself, not your child, in it's original packaging, clearly named with your child’s name and class, and with a completed Administration of Medication Form. 

Long-Term Medicines

If your child suffers with a chronic medical condition and has been prescribed medication to take whilst at school, the medication should be brought to the School Office by yourself, not your child, in it’s original packaging, clearly named with your child’s name and class, and with a completed Administration of Medication Form. 

Further documentation may need to be completed, e.g. Inhaler Consent Form, Care Plan etc. Please discuss this with the School Office.

Administration of Medication Form

Individual Care Plan

Inhaler Consent Form

Asthma Individual HealthCare Plan

We regularly recruit for a variety of roles, please do share news of the vacancies with interested friends and family. Current vacancies include:

Crackley Hall School 

• Assistant Head (Pastoral)
• Site Supervisor
• Nursery Practitioner
  
  

Further information and application forms on all roles are available on the Foundation's website - www.princethorpe.co.uk/join-us

From September 2024 Aftercare needs to be booked through My School Portal. You are able to book the whole term in advance, and you are able to cancel this yourself, should you need to.

https://princethorpe.myschoolportal.co.uk/login 

The sessions available are:

Session 1 - 3:30pm to 4:30pm (includes drink and biscuit)

Session 2 - 4:30pm to 6:00pm (includes tea)

Both Sessions - 3:30pm to 6:00pm (includes drink, biscuit and tea)

The costs for Aftercare are £5.00 per hour, or part thereof. You will only be charged for the time that your child spends in Aftercare.

If you require tea, please ensure that you have booked by 12:00pm on the day.

Please ensure that you book Aftercare in good time, as the School Office will be unable to log in to book Aftercare on your behalf.

Informing the School of pupil absence

Parents must inform the school via the online absence form on My School Portal or telephone 01926 514444 and leave a voicemail on Option 1, as soon as possible, before 9:00am, if they know that their child will not be in school for either the whole day or any part thereof. For unplanned absence, parents must complete the Absence Form. This can be found on the dashboard or in the My Children section of My School Portal.

If a pupil has a pre-planned appointment, e.g. medical, please inform the school in advance on the Requesting Student Absence: Planned Form, which can be found within the My Children section of My School Portal. This can then be pre-coded on our attendance system. Having alerted the school for any reason of absence it is not necessary to follow up the absence with a written note.

We ask that, where possible, all pupil appointments (e.g. medical or dental) are made out of school hours, to avoid disruption to learning.

Holidays

Parents are strongly discouraged from taking their children out of school and family holidays should always be taken in the school holiday period which is published over a year in advance. Permission for leave of absence for valid reasons such as a family funeral, should be sought in writing and in advance via My School Portal, with as much notice as possible. Pupils with persistent absence may be asked to provide medical evidence.