Headteacher Newsletter 425
Dear parents, please read the following Headteacher Newsletter which includes an important update on Attendance Guidance from September.
Summer is here…almost! 
All of a sudden, we are on the home stretch - it’s the final term of the academic year and it promises to be an eventful one! We had our first music-filled Funky Friday last week with summer hits playing at drop-off, collection and during lunchtime.
Before the term is out, 160 children will have performed at the Performing Arts Soiree, all children will have competed at Sports Day, all parents will have been invited to our Summer Open View sessions, our Foundation Stage children will have graduated, Year 6 children will have performed their final Leavers’ Assembly, we will have had our Summer Fair, all children will have spent time with their new teachers, the Year 6s will have visited their new secondary schools, and all parents will have been invited to see the Year 6 Leavers go through the Leavers’ Arch at the end of the last day of term. And of course, the usual learning across the curriculum will be happening every day too!
One thing is for sure, this term promises to be a memorable one!
Respect Conservation
Our final School Value of the year is our core value - RESPECT. This completes our year by incorporating all of our school values into one. Please ask your child what respect means, as they should be experts by now!
Our final curriculum focus of the year is Conservation. This continues to be an increasingly important focus across the world, and it is fitting that it ties into our Respect value as we learn about the ways in which we can maintain and upkeep our natural resources and environment so that it is sustained for ourselves and future generations to come. All the children’s wider curriculum themes focus on conservation.
Attendance
Term-time Holidays
As you may already be aware, government guidelines prevent Head Teachers from granting any leave of absence during term time, unless there are exceptional circumstances. A family holiday during term-time does not fall under the category of ‘exceptional circumstances’ and so Head Teachers are unable to authorise this.
Schools and Local Authorities are directed to work within a national framework to ensure that all pupils have good attendance. I have attached the link for your reference.
Working Together to Improve School Attendance
I want to take this opportunity to make you aware that this guidance has been updated for August 2024 and it instructs schools to take action when a parent fails to ensure their child of compulsory school age attends school regularly*.
*Regular attendance is attendance at school on each day the school is open for the pupils unless there is an ‘authorised’ reason to be absent; (registration regulations 2006 (amended). Section 444 of the education act 1996)
It has been made very clear to schools that we must challenge unauthorised attendance when it reaches the national threshold. In these instances, schools must work with their Local Authority Officer to issue a penalty notice. A penalty notice is charged at £160 per parent, per pupil if paid within 28 days.
I have copied below the relevant section from ‘Working Together to Improve School Attendance’ for reference.
National threshold when it is appropriate to issue a penalty notice
The threshold is 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks. A school week means any week in which there is at least one school session. This can be met with any combination of unauthorised absence (e.g. 4 sessions of holiday taken in term time plus 6 sessions of arriving late after the register closes all within 10 school weeks). These sessions can be consecutive (e.g. 10 sessions of holiday in one week) or not (e.g. 6 sessions of unauthorised absence taken in 1 week and 1 per week for the next 4 weeks). The period of 10 school weeks can also span different terms or school years (e.g. 2 sessions of unauthorised absence in the Summer Term and a further 8 within the Autumn Term). There are 2 sessions each day so 10 sessions is equivalent to 5 full school days.
We have seen a significant increase in the number of families requesting and taking term-time holidays this year so I wanted to take this opportunity to remind you that I cannot authorise these requests and, when children return to school in September, they may meet the threshold for issuing a penalty notice.
These absences have a huge impact on our school’s overall attendance percentage, but more importantly, the children’s lost learning.
At Woodland View, we want to work together with families to give our children the very best start in life. I hope this information has clarified our expectations and we can continue to work in partnership to improve every child’s school experience through regular attendance.
We have a wealth of information on our school website, please do go and have a look. Alternatively, you can contact our Attendance Champion, Mrs Matsangou.
School Parking
We are aware of ongoing parking challenges outside of school at drop-off and collection times. Unfortunately, the footprint of the school grounds was built at the start of the Grange Park development then it quickly grew to be the large housing area which it is today, therefore we are limited in what we can do as a school to help ease the busyness of traffic out the front of school. Many of our staff park at nearby car parks due to the fact that our car park is not big enough for the staff numbers we have.
Our priority will always be the safety of our children and school families, so we will continue to explore ways in which we can help with this issue. But, as parents, please read the following questions carefully to see if you can help in any way.
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Can you walk to school? The vast majority of our families are residents of Grange Park and are all within walking distance of the school.
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If you live outside of Grange Park, can you use the Community Centre car park or Co-op (still a short walk) car park? Parking away from school and having a short walk will significantly reduce the traffic outside of school.
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If you do drive, can you keep your driving speed very low? The 2 roads leading towards the school gates often have cars parked on both sides, so please go steady to allow for safe movement of cars and people.
Science Week Success 
Last week the children enjoyed Science Week! This included a Science Show by Sublime Science, and a special visit from a Science Investigator working with all year groups to solve the mystery of ‘Who stole Mr Horsley’s laptop?’ With scientific analysis including fingerprint testing, extracting DNA and footprint measuring, the children were very excited to find a resolution to the mystery…
The children also had the opportunity to take part in a Science Quiz and they had an investigation homework task to tackle. We were very impressed with the children’s inquisitive nature and scientific enquiry throughout the week!
PE Uniform Update
After some parental feedback regarding the fit of the neck gap in our new PE Hoodies, we have been in communication with the company to help rectify the issue for future ordering. The neck gap size has now been increased with the manufacturer so that all future hoodies purchased will have the amended design. If your child has struggled with this issue, we hope this helps going forward. Please contact the school if you have any more queries.
Now that the weather is starting to warm up (on some days!) we encourage the children to dress accordingly so that they do not overheat, therefore wearing shorts is a great idea. Nevertheless, we have noticed some short cycling/gym shorts. If your child wears these, please can you ensure cycling shorts reach midway down the thigh! Thank you.
School Blogs
For more news on what is happening in your child’s class, please check out the school blogs page at https://www.wvps.northants.sch.uk/page/?title=Year+Group+Blogs&pid=75
Key dates
Thursday 20th June - Performing Arts Soiree - Evening show at Spinney Theatre (Y2-Y6 invite only)
Sunday 23rd June - Strictly Finals - 6pm at the Derngate
Monday 24th June - FOWV Cinema Club after school - FS-Year 6
Thursday 27th June - Sports Days for Foundation Stage (9-10.15am) & Years 1+2 (10.15am-12.15pm)
Friday 28th June - Sports Days for Years 5+6 (9-11.30am) & Years 3 and 4 (12.50-3.10pm)
Thursday 4th July - Year 3 Strings Concert in school for parents - 2pm
Friday 5th July - Mufti-day for the Summer Fair Tombola
Week beginning Monday 8th July - Summer Open View sessions 2.30-3pm:
- Monday - Years 2 and 5
- Tuesday - Foundation Stage
- Wednesday - Years 3 and 4
- Thursday - Years 1 and 6
Monday 8th July - Foundation Stage Graduation
Tuesday 9th July - Children meet their new teachers, end of year reports go home
Friday 12th July - Summer Fayre - 3.15-5pm
Monday 15th July - Year 6 Leavers Fun Event - after school for Year 6 pupils
Thursday 18th July - Year 6 Leavers’ Performance to parents - 6pm
Friday 19th July - Leavers Arch for Year 6 children (involving the whole school) - all parents invited
Friday 19th July - School closes for Summer
Many thanks,
Mark Horsley
Headteacher
