16/06/2023

Dear Parents and Carers,

Attendance and timings of the school day.

In March 2022, The Schools’ White Paper set out the government’s expectation that all schools should offer a minimum school week of 32.5 hours by September 2023. This equates to 6.5 hours per day. In preparation for this, from Monday 26th June 2023, we are revising the timings of the school day (see timings above).

If you arrive at school once the gates have closed, you will need to use the buzzer to contact the school office, access the school site via the pedestrian gate and escort your child to the front door. You will then be greeted by Mrs Timmins and a late mark will be recorded. Please be assured, we are aware that sometimes things happen that are out of our control resulting in an occasional late; the purpose of recording a late
mark is just to ensure that this doesn’t become a regular occurrence resulting in lost learning time.

Attendance

The Department for Education has also published a document titled ‘Working together to improve school attendance and punctuality’ with the aim of reducing the number of unauthorised absences and late marks recorded in schools. As a result we are required, as a school, to enforce more stringent processes and action in response to unauthorised absences, including lateness. We felt that this information was especially important given our amendments to timings for the day as outlined above. Please be assured that any steps we do take will be done in the spirit of improving attendance and punctuality to ensure the children of Corbett are able to engage fully with the curriculum. I will be sending you further information about our attendance policy soon.

Safety

As there is limited parking available outside school, please ensure that you leave enough time to arrive to collect your child promptly. There may be space available at the Red Lion for parking, which is only a short walk away. They have kindly agreed that we can use any free spaces in their car park. Please can we also remind you that there should be no parking on the yellow lines outside the school gate to help keep the children safe. When arriving to collect your child, please space out and stand on the playground where your child’s teacher can see that you have arrived to collect your child. This makes it easier for them to hand children over efficiently and safely. Once your child has been handed over to you by their teacher at the end of the day, they become your responsibility and should remain under your supervision until they leave the school site.

Thank you for your support,
Mrs E Jones
Headteacher