Newsletters

Attendance at WES December 2024

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16th December 2024

 

Dear Parent/Carer,  

Welcome to our December Attendance & Punctuality newsletter. 

Camden Attendance Campaign 2024/2025 

Our Year 10 Peer Educators who helped to create a film and resources promoting good attendance across Camden schools were nominated for an award as part of the Camden Multimedia Competition and finished 4th runners. These students are now AQA qualified Peer Mentors and will be supporting some of our KS3 students around attendance in the coming spring term. Well done to Jack, Jayden and Taylor who demonstrated resourcefulness and resilience throughout their participation in the programme and thank you to Fitzrovia Youth Action for their work supporting our students during this campaign.  

Attendance Surgery  

Meetings continued this term with families, looking at ways we can continue to support our students with attendance.  

A reminder that if a students’ attendance falls below 90%, we aim to meet with the student and their parents/carers to look at ways this might be improved via a closely monitored plan of action. These meetings are intended to be a positive conversation where we will offer any appropriate support we can to help improve your child’s attendance.  

Attendance Rewards 2nd - 13th December Round 6:  

Every fortnight, following our Week A and Week B cycle, we continue to share attendance data with all year groups. The tutor group with the best attendance in that cycle will win a prize each fortnight.  

Congratulations to the following tutor groups who achieved the best attendance in their year group for this cycle. It would be fantastic to see other tutor groups improving to take a place at the top next term.  

Punctuality  

Good punctuality to both school and lessons is proven to lead to higher levels of attainment. It also helps students to start their day in correct mindset for academic success. When students arrive late to school, they miss out on essential learning at the beginning of the school day and can feel anxious. This can reduce achievement regardless of the students’ academic abilities.  

School Inclusion Support Officers  

A reminder that our School Inclusion Support officer is Ms. Shuma Khanom, and she will be visiting us in the coming weeks. Some parents may be invited to meet with the School Inclusion Support Officer to discuss the reason for poor attendance and what we can do to help your child to return to school.  

We know that children who attend school regularly and on time are more able to access their learning, get support in subjects they may struggle with and have a better chance of passing their exams.  

We know as a parent you also worry about your child’s future, and we want to work with you to ensure every pupil has a full-time education to maximise opportunities for everyone to realise their potential.  

Being a parent is not easy if you need talk to someone about your child’s attendance, please contact me on: nunnery@williamellis.camden.sch.uk   

It is never too late to benefit from good attendance.  

What to do if your child is unable to come to school: 

There are only a small number of circumstances where missing a school day is permitted. However, we understand that there may be times where this is unavoidable such as illness or medical appointments that cannot be made out of school hours.  

If your child is going to be absent for unavoidable circumstances, please telephone the school’s absence line on 0207 267 9346 by 8.30am. You will need to give your child’s name, tutor group and reason for absence. Any documentation relating to absence (e.g.: a doctor’s certificate or medical appointment letter) may be emailed to the attendance officer via: attendance@williamellis.camden.sch.uk  

If your child is absent from school for more than one day, please keep us informed each day. If your child is absent and we have not been informed, we will record the absence as unauthorised. Continued unauthorised absence may need to be reported to the local authority. If the school has safeguarding concerns about continued unauthorised absence, we may involved the Safer Schools Police Officer.  

Yours faithfully,

Ms S Nunnery

Assistant Headteacher

nunnery@williamellis.camden.sch.uk