Attendance

Attendance levels in school have slowly been creeping up since Christmas so we are now above the national average at 94.7%. This has obviously been positive and is down to parents and children together making every effort to attend whenever they are well enough. We are still well below our pre-Covid levels of attendance that were always around 96 or 97% but with excellent attendance to the end of the summer we should be able to at least break the 95% barrier which would mean that on average children at Manor are missing quarter of a day each week or about 10 days a year.

Of course, there are times when children are too poorly to come in. This week we have sent a message about the small number of scarlet fever cases that we have had at school with links to NHS information. This is an illness that can spread easily, but once a doctor has prescribed anti-biotics and children are feeling well enough, they can return within a day or so as they should no longer be contagious, even if they still have a rash. As ever, if children are too poorly for school, with high temperatures, sickness and diarrhoea etc., then they should clearly stay at home and medical advice be sought.

When it comes to holidays in term time, we are not allowed to authorise these, so in almost all cases a penalty notice will be issued. Please make sure to only book holidays in the 13 weeks of school holidays throughout the school year. The INSET Days for next school year are now on our school calendar on the website so do check this before booking anything. The INSET Days are often tagged onto a school holiday so can maybe give a cheaper flight date occasionally, as not as many schools will be off that day. Thank you for your support in this.

Lateness

We all have those mornings when the traffic is awful or the car breaks down and we end up late. For children, they end up having to walk into a classroom where the lesson has already started and they struggle to catch up. 

On the odd occasion, once or twice a year, this might happen, but for some it is more like once or twice a month or even a week. If lateness is this regular then maybe alarms need to be set earlier and journeys started sooner. School starts with the bell on the playground at 8:50am and by 9:00am registers have been taken and lessons started. Before Covid we asked parents to complete a slip with a reason for the lateness, but this changed to accepting a verbal reason during the pandemic. From the Monday after half term we will be reintroducing a written and signed slip of paper for our records that office staff will ask parents to complete if the child arrives after 9:00am.

Children arriving after 9:20am, half an hour after school starts, are counted as having missed registration and are counted as absent for that morning session. This is rare but is something we want parents to be aware of.

We have certainly seen an improvement in some families' punctuality over recent times and their children have definitely benefited as a result. If there is anything we can do to help with attendance or punctuality, then please don't hesitate to ask.

New staff and Governor

Following the departure of Mrs Perry we held a recruitment process for her replacement. We had a very strong list of applicants which we narrowed down to 5 for interview. Following a rigorous process we have appointed Mrs Jenny Turner who many of you will know. Mrs Turner is a parent of a child in Swans and has done regular voluntary work in school over the past 2 years so we know the quality of her relationships with children and we see the potential she has working in school. She will be starting the week after half term and will work the mornings in EYFS. I know you will all welcome her as part of the Manor staff.

Our governors have been running with a few vacancies for co-opted governors for some time and I mentioned this at the Parish Council AGM a couple of weeks ago. This prompted Mr Philip Millard to come forward to rejoin the Manor governors after about a 20 year break! Mr Millard was a previous chair of Manor governors and has also served as chair of the Parish Council previously. We are sure he will be a valuable addition to the group and are grateful for him coming forward to support the school. Again, I'm sure he will receive a warm welcome.

Parent Forum

Thank you to those who were able to attend this morning's forum. Some positive discussions from the sound of it. Minutes will follow next week. A couple of items that came up were that Katie Cowell will be stepping down as chair at the end of this year so a new chair will need to be chosen at the next meeting. The other decision made was to limit the meetings to one per term as the agenda was a bit light for this and the last meeting. This means the next meeting will be in the autumn term. if you would like to, or be willing to, chair these informal gatherings where parents get the chance to have their collective voice heard over a cuppa, then do look out for the next meeting and pop along.