attendance
Sickness & Reporting Absence
We have had lots of children off this week with sickness bugs and coughs and colds.
Be assured we are doing our best in school to slow the spread of germs, with lots of cleaning and additional handwashing! Please be reminded however, that you can do your part in stopping the spread of sickness bugs by not returning your child to school too soon. Our school policy is that children should not return until 48 hours after their last episode of sickness or diarroeah.
If your child has sickness and diarroeah, and is likely to be off more than the 48 hour period, it is important you contact us to inform us. Equally, if your child is off with an illness other than sickness, it's important to call us EVERY DAY to update us on your child's condition.
If we believe the illness is not legitimate, and there is another reason for absence we may conduct a home visit.
Penalty Notices (Fines) & Term Time Holidays
Unfortunately, during Term 1, we had to issue 4 Penalty Notices to families that took holidays during term time. This is a disappointing amount, and we would like to remind parents that children should not be taking holidays during term time.
If you need to take your child out of school during the term, it is essential that you complete a leave of absence request form to inform us of this. Holidays will not be authorised and will result in a penalty notice - this is a fine of £60 per child/per parent.
New guidance from the Education Welfare Service also states that families that take holidays consistently each year, will bypass penalty notice procedures and be referred directly for prosecution.
Absences for other reasons will be looked at on a case by case basis and authorisation will be dependent on your child's current attendance and attendance from previous years. Unless absences are for an exceptional circumstance, it is likely that they will also be unauthorised which means you may also be at risk for a penalty notice. Please be aware that we may ask for evidence of exceptional circumstances.
Also, from now on, if we have reason to believe that your child’s reason for absence is not legitimate (for example you have told us your child is ill, but we have been advised you are actually on holiday), we will investigate this. This may mean that home visits are carried out during the absence period to establish your child’s whereabouts.
school news
Booking Breakfast Club
Please can we politely remind parents that spaces at Breakfast Club MUST be booked by 7.30am in order for children to attend. We have had a number of children recently who have arrived for breakfast without having been booked in. Paying for sessions on School Gateway does not automatically mean a child is registered for the session, so we ask that parents check their bookings before sending their child in.
If you have any questions, or need support with using School Gateway, please speak to Miss Morse in the school office.
School Photographs
Pupil photographs have been sent home from school this week. These should be returned to us by Tuesday 6th December in order to be returned to you before the Christmas Break.
Year 6 London Visit
Yesterday, Year 6 visited London to explore the tourist hotspots and undertake some Geography fieldwork. Thankfully, the sun was shining which gave us wonderful views of the beautiful landmarks in London. We had a great day of smiling faces full of joy and after successfully walking all day there were lots of tired legs and some even had a snooze on the coach home! Well done to all of year 6 on your brilliant behaviour and being such excellent ambassadors of our school in the big city and thank you to all staff to making it so special for them.
After School Clubs - Friday 16th December
Please be aware that there will be NO AFTER SCHOOL CLUBS (INCLUDING CHILL TIME) on Friday 16th December. This is our last day of term before the Christmas break and all children will need to be collected at the end of the school day at 3.15pm
Year 6 SATs Week 2022
As you may know, an additional bank holiday in honour of the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III will take place on Monday 8th May 2023.
It has been decided that the KS2 SATs test will still take place during this week, and the schedule will be as follows:
Tuesday 9th May - English grammar, punctuation and spelling (GPS) papers 1 (questions) and 2 (spelling)
Wednesday 10th May - English reading paper
Thursday 11th May - Mathematics papers 1 (arithmetic) and 2 (reasoning)
Friday 12th May - Mathematics paper 3 (reasoning)
The children will be working hard in the lead up to this and we are sharing these dates with you so you are able to support us in helping your child from home.
As you know, families are discouraged from taking holidays in term time, however please be aware that, under no circumstances, should holidays be booked for this week. Children absent due to holidays will not have an opportunity to retake these tests and this could be detrimental to their ongoing secondary education.
INFORMATION
Click the buttons below for up to date information about various areas of school life...
headteacher awards
Reception
Bronson - for beginning to grow in confidence and making progress when subitising numbers up to 4.
Year 1
Ivan and Vicky - for doing so well in their end of unit maths test. Well done!
Year 2
Maya - for continuing to persevere with her reading and making some real improvements this week
Year 3
Maja- for being a brilliant rock detective in science! Maja was able to sort images of rocks into different categories based on their appearance. Well done!
Manna- for her enthusiastic participation in singing practice, it was lovely to hear! Well done, Manna!
Year 4
Fritzhie- For extending her learning beyond the classroom. Fritzhie often completes extra research at home, using the lessons that have been taught in class. For example, she shared a wonderful book written about the Queen, drew a terrifying monster and wrote a report on the land use in Filwood. Incredible, independent learning.
Year 5
Antony - for having a 'can do' attitude and consistently working hard in every aspect of his learning
Year 6
All of Year 6 for a fantastic trip to London - you behaved brilliantly and represented the school fantastically as we walked around seeing the famous landmarks and completing some excellent Geography fieldwork.
wellbeing
community
There's so much going on in Knowle West!
The Knowle West Alliance and Knowle West Media Centre, along with many other charities and business, work together within our community to make it a inclusive and inviting place to be.
If you are interested in the events going on in our community, click the image below to visit the Knowle West Community Website.
