Dear Parent,
I am writing to all parents regarding the importance of punctuality. Our school has high expectations of attendance, and we are proud of consistently high rates across our school and over time. These rates ensure that children access their learning and make good progress as a result.
Whilst pupil attendance is a strength of our school, I wanted to explain some of the reasons why punctuality is also very important to all learners.
Firstly, children arriving late causes disruption to the work of our administration team in the front office. Typically, the time from 8.50 until 9.10 is one of the busiest in the office and when children arrive late, this work is disrupted. Any disruption to work in school may have a knock-on effect to learning.
Secondly, the start of the day is typically used for practise of basic skills in maths in most classes. This input has a significant impact on academic standards for our children in maths and children who arrive late either miss this, or at best don’t have the same amount of time to practise these essential skills.
Finally, although there are other reasons we should value attendance that I could articulate, the learning of other children in class can be disadvantaged by late coming children, as teaching staff may need to go over learning input that has been missed rather than continuing to teach the lesson.
Whilst we fully appreciate that there may be occasions when children may be late, I would respectfully ask that all pupils arrive no later than 8.55 in order to access their full curriculum of learning.
If you have any questions, please let me know.
Yours sincerely,
John Richardson
Headteacher