Readers of the Week

Year 2

It's been a wonderful start to the school year in Michael Rosen class, and all the children have settled into Year 2 beautifully. We've had a busy and exciting few weeks full of new learning adventures and opportunities.

Our central idea, "Choices affect wellbeing," has sparked some deep thinking and great questions. To kick things off, we investigated a "great classroom disaster" to help us understand the importance of responsibility and accountability within our own classroom community.

Our line of inquiry, "What makes us human," has led to fascinating discussions. We've been exploring our similarities and differences, connecting our learning to PSHE. We also discussed the key features that make us human before creating some incredible self-portraits to display in our own class gallery.

In literacy, we've been showcasing our descriptive writing skills by crafting character descriptions using a rich variety of vocabulary, all inspired by our core text, Cotton Wool Colin.

Maths has been all about place value! The children have been showing off their knowledge by partitioning numbers up to 100 into tens and ones. We've used physical manipulatives and then practiced writing these numbers down in our books.

The children are also very excited about our new Chromebooks! We've been practicing logging in and navigating them, which has been a little tricky as we get used to the keyboard layout. However, they are all showing great resilience and are keen to start using them daily to support their learning.

We're all looking forward to continuing our learning journey and can't wait to see what the rest of the term brings!

Writing

Here you can see the work from our Wow Writers this week! 

Every week we will showcase the winners of our weekly writing certificate so you can see the piece of writing they won their award for.

Attendance holiday request reminders

Any holiday-related absence taken that includes 10 sessions in 10 weeks, may result in a Penalty Notice.  In this instance, a ‘Notice to Improve’ notification will not be issued beforehand.

The penalty notice amount increased from August 2024 with a maximum of two penalty notices within a rolling three-year period:-

• First offence - The first time a Penalty Notice is issued the amount will be: £80 per parent, per child paid within 21 days. This increases to £160 per parent, per child if paid after day 21, until day 28. Any non-payment of the Penalty Notice may be referred to the Magistrates Court.

• Second Offence (within 3 years) - the second time a Penalty Notice is issued the amount will be £160 per parent, per child paid within 28 days. Any non-payment of the Penalty Notice may be referred to the Magistrates Court.

• Third Offence and subsequent Offences (within 3 years) - the third time an offence is committed a Penalty Notice will not be issued, and the case may be presented straight to the Magistrates’ Court under s.444 of the Education Act (1996) or other legal interventions considered. The Magistrates’ Court can order fines up to £2500 per parent, per child.

Parents with parental responsibility, and adults residing with the child, including for example,

stepparents who have day-to-day responsibility for the child, may be fined, and this applies to each child who is absent. For example, if two adults take two children out of school, the total fines would be £640 (reduced to £320 for a first offence paid within 21days).

If a Penalty Notice is not paid within the time limits set out in the letter to the parent, Medway Local Authority may proceed the case to court.

We recognise that these Penalty Notices may be unpopular with families, but it is important to inform you of these changes promptly.

Nationally, Headteachers are: 

• not permitted to approve term-time holidays except in genuinely exceptional circumstances, and are to consider each application for a leave of absence individually before making our

• decision.

The law clearly expects Headteachers to enforce these penalties strictly.

The policy also states that schools are required to consider requesting the issuance of Penalty Notices when the criteria are met. This is a statutory national process that applies to all state-funded schools in England.

Our school attendance policy in line with these requirements can be found here: https://leighacademypeninsulaeast.org.uk/about-us/policies/

Are you looking for a school place for your child for September 2026?

If you are starting to look for your child to join a Reception class in September 2026, we have tours available for you to come and view the school. We have an open morning on Thursday 16th October at 9am and an open afternoon on Tuesday 4th November at 2pm. We look forward to meeting you and showing you the exciting opportunities that attending our school offers for your child. Please contact the academy office on 01634270428 or email office@peninsulaeast.latrust.org.uk 

Safeguarding at Leigh Academy Peninsula East

What is safeguarding?

Members of staff, parents/carers and visitors who come on to our school premises have a duty of care towards the welfare and safety of the children who attend our schools.  

This is called Safeguarding.

Every child can potentially be hurt, put at risk from harm or abused regardless of their age, gender, religion, ethnicity or disability.

Safeguarding means that:

• Children are protected from mistreatment

• A child’s health or development is protected

• Children grow up with safe and effective care

• Action is taken to ensure the best outcomes for all children

Safeguarding is the action we take to promote the welfare of children in our care and to protect them from harm.  

Our safeguarding team at Leigh Academy Peninsula East:

Designated safeguarding lead and Principal - Mrs L Rimmer

Deputy designated safeguarding lead and Vice Principal - Miss C Brading

Deputy designated safeguarding lead and SENCO - Miss L Hartung

Deputy designated safeguarding lead and FLO - Mrs J Dyke 

If you require further information about safeguarding and require further support or advice please refer to our academy website - https://leighacademypeninsulaeast.org.uk/safeguarding/