Newsletter 1 Spring Term

Safer Schools App - please download this!

Our school has access to the Safer Schools App, which we urge all parents and carers to download. The Safer Schools England App has been designed by safeguarding professionals to help make our entire school community safer online. Its mission is to educate, empower and protect and it is completely free for our school community to use. As well as digital guides and news, the push notifications which warn users about new dangers online, are really powerful.

To get started, download from your relevant store by searching ‘Safer Schools England’, pointing your camera at the QR code or by clicking the links below.

• For Apple users: App Store

• For Android users: Google Play Store

Our schools unique code to register is 0557

Uniform reminders

Pupils continue to wear ‘winter uniform’ until the end of the spring term. This includes a white long/short sleeved school shirt or blouse and a red tie with the school logo (a tie does not need to be worn with blouses). More information can be found on the school uniform page of our website.

We have continued to have conversations with families regarding uniform and will be writing notes in planners this week as appropriate. Pupils may be given items from the nearly-new donations to wear if they are not wearing school uniform. Pupils are required to wear smart black shoes as part of their uniform. Trainers, boots or football boots are not allowed and shoes should not display a logo. All hair beyond shoulder length must be tied back with a black, red or white hairband.  Polo shirts and summer dresses are not permitted as part of the winter school uniform.

School uniform can be purchased from our second-hand clothes shop in the school office in return for a donation to the PTA. This makes sure the correct uniform is accessible to all of our families. Thank you to the many families who have donated their old uniform to the shop; you can donate any pre-loved items to the school office at any time.

Attendance: Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) to be introduced in the summer term 2024

As you may have seen in the news, school attendance has become a national issue. Attendance at SASM as a whole is above the national average (it is currently 96.2%) and our team will follow-up on any absences daily, whether they are authorised or unauthorised.  We work closely and positively with many families across the school as well as the borough's Education Welfare Service to improve and maintain attendance. It was fantastic to award 151 pupils 5 Christian Value Points CVPs on the final day of term for perseverance after attending education every day last half term. Ultimately, it is our collective responsibility to ensure that children are in school so that they can receive a full education, develop positive habits and are set-up for success in later life. Thank you for working with us to prioritise your child's education.

It may interest you to know that if a child is absent for 10 school days they will miss 5% of their education during that academic year. Another way to look at it is that if a pupil misses 20 days of school they will have attendance of 90%. 90% may sound high but if this was repeated each year they would have missed an entire year of school by Year 10.

Despite attendance at SASM being above the national average, there are a significant number of term-time holiday absences, which includes visits to relatives and other trips. In the last term alone, 22 pupils collectively lost 86 school days of attendance due to unauthorised term time leave, which equates to 516 lessons where pupils missed the learning they should have received. 

From the start of the summer term, any parent or carer who takes a child out of school for 10 consecutive sessions (five days) or more, not authorised by the headteacher, may be at risk of a penalty notice. The school refers cases to the local authority to issue a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN). On issue, the initial penalty fine is £60.  If this is not paid with 21 days, the fine is doubled to £120.  This is for each parent or carer who has parental responsibility for each child and who they have day-to day care of and live with on school days. We will be monitoring the effectiveness of this approach for the first year of its introduction and will review our policy annually.

More information can be found on our attendance page, which includes a copy of our attendance policy.

Christmas Service at St Mark's Church

On the final day of term, it was delightful to see so many parents and carers come to participate in our Christmas Service at St Mark's Church. As our entire school community gathered together, we recreated the nativity and reminded ourselves of the momentous events leading up to the birth of Jesus. 

                                                        -Repeat notices-

Safer Schools App

We would encourage all parents/carers to download the Safer Schools app for free push notifications about online safety and helpful advice. You can download the app using the instructions here. 

Safeguarding Hub  

This week the Safeguarding Hub discuss setting new year digitial resolutions, ranging from managing screen time to enhancing cyber security.  

Pupil Premium Grants

For the first time, all pupils at SASM are entitled to receive a free school lunch. To enable your child to access this, you must book your child's lunch via ParentPay.com. 

If you were previously eligible for means tested free school meals or are in receipt of any of the following benefits...  

•  income support

• income-based job seeker's allowance

• income-related employment and support allowance

• the guarantee element of state pension credit

•  support under part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

• child tax credit (but not working tax credit) and have an annual income of less than £16,190

• working tax credit run-on – paid for four weeks after you stop qualifying for working tax credit

• Universal Credit - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)

...your child maybe eligible for a Pupil Premium Grant. This will gives your child access to: 

This gives your child access to:

• A free after school club every half term

• A free 'stay and play' session in our Wrap Around Care each week

• A free place at Breakfast Club every day

• A discount on school residential visits

... and much more!

In order to make this possible, our school receives funding for every pupil signed up. If you think you might be eligible please sign up as soon as possible here.

Please contact the school office if you have any issues with activating an account.   

Jewellery

Children can wear watches to school but the wearing of jewellery and earrings of all types is not permitted on safety grounds.  Any child wearing earrings to school will be asked to remove them.  If they are unable to remove them they will be required to stay inside during break and lunch times and will not be able to participate in any PE or physical activities. 

Smart Watches

Fitness trackers without smart watch capability are permitted but St Andrew’s and St Mark’s accept no responsibility for the loss or damage of these items. Smart watches , including iWatches- are not permitted due to their messaging capabilities. 

Lost Property

Please remember to label your child’s uniform, lunch box and water bottle.  All named lost property will be returned to your child by the next school day.  Unlabelled property will be kept for one week only in the school office.