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Newsletter 1 - September 2024
Support:
Now that your son/daughter is in Key Stage 4, it is more
important than ever to keep a track of their progress and
work completed at home. Please utilise all of the functions
on EduLink to monitor House Points, consequences and
homework, as well as attendance and the school calendar.
Please look through your son/daughter’s books regularly
and discuss deadlines concerning homework assignments
to ensure that adequate work is being completed outside of
school time.
Support at home:
There are a variety of support services for your son/daughter
should they need extra help during. These range from
one-to-one mentoring for academic support, to health and
counselling support should it be required. Your son/daughter
can self-refer to these via their Form Tutor or Pastoral
Leader.
Attendance
Holidays/Withdrawal from learning forms: Applying for
withdrawal from learning can be done by clicking here and
accessing the Withdrawal from Learning form. This must
be completed and sent to the Attendance ofÏce before the
start of the date/s you are requesting. The Department for
Education will only allow a headteacher to grant a leave of
absence if there are exceptional circumstances.
Educational Welfare OfÏcer: Where absences are
unauthorised or attendance drops below 90%, a referral
to the Educational Welfare OfÏcer may occur. This support
involves attendance targets being set, home visits, 1:1
support for pupils and attendance meetings in school. Where
needed, a referral to the Local Authority for attendance
support may be considered.
Policy: To access the Attendance Policy, please click here.
Reporting absences: In line with County policy, parents/
carers are required to report the absence on each day
a pupil is away from school. This must be done through
EduLink, or by emailing attendance@strichardscc.com. If
you are unable to report the absence through EduLink or
email, please call the school on 01424 731070 and select
the automated number for pupil absences, leaving a clear
message identifying your child’s name, form group and
reason for absence.
Continuous absences (Medical evidence): We monitor
all pupils' attendance rates, and in cases of long term (more
than 3 days) and frequent (after the third separate episode)
absence, the school will require medical evidence. This can
be a copy of prescriptions, appointment cards, hospital or
doctor’s letters. Until this is provided, the absence will be
marked as unauthorised.
Medical appointments: Where possible, please ensure
appointments are made outside of school hours. We
appreciate that this may not always be possible, so if an
appointment does occur during the school day, please report
it using the usual method of absence reporting through
EduLink. In order for these appointments to be authorised,
we will need to see proof of the appointments, which can be
emailed to attendance@strichardscc.com
Contacting the Attendance OfÏce
If you have any questions surrounding your
child's attendance, please contact us by emailing
attendance@strichardscc.com
Key Stage 4 General Guidance
Homework:
Homework should be around two hours per evening.
There should never be an occasion when you are told ‘I
have no homework’ or ‘no homework has been set’ as
pupils should be building a habit of revision as soon as
possible. Homework is essential in supporting the learning
within school, and this year, it is crucial that it is being
completed in depth and on time.
It cannot be stressed enough just how important it is that,
wherever possible, your son/daughter is in every lesson
and attends every day. It is no coincidence that the pupils
who were the most successful this year with their GCSEs
had excellent attendance. If you find that your child is
struggling with homework or the amount of work or the
challenge of GCSEs, then please contact the Pastoral
Leader to work out a plan to utilise a mentor or arrange for
your child to attend intervention or after school Prep Club.
Email communication
All email communication from the school is via EduLink.
Please ensure that you have EduLink One installed on your mobile phone.
Any problems or queries, please email IT Services at: helpme@strichardscc.com