We are off to a

great start this year

and our attendance

figures reflect this.

The government

minimum

attendance target is

96% and as a school

we are just above

this. We would like

to thank all of the

parents who have

supported us in our

efforts to improve

attendance for our

pupils across the

school. A child’s

education begins

with their

attendance, the

more time they are

in school, the more

they are able to

learn and achieve.

If you have any

concerns about

your child’s

attendance, please

speak to Mrs Clarke-

Basrai.

Every term, we wel-

come nom-

inations for

the Attend-

ance

Champion

Awards. The

award is given to chil-

dren who have out-

standing

attendance

or are work-

ing hard to-

wards im-

proved attendance.

We are very proud of

our Attendance Cham-

pions so far this year.

Levy & Lewis were

nominated for their re-

markable improved

attendance in term 1.

Antonio was nominat-

ed in term 2

for his

astounding

improve-

ment in

terms 1

and 2.

Courtney

was also

nominat-

ed in term

2 for her

continued efforts and

improvement of both

her punctuality and

attendance. Well done

to all

the chil-

dren.

Attendance Champion Awards

Welcome to our Attendance and Punctuality Newsletter

December 2017

Attendance News Term 1 & 2

2017 - 2018

In this term’s

edition

Term 1 & 2

Attendance

Champion Awards

Attendance; A

Parent’s Perspective

Attendance Race

Results

Attendance Around

School—Year Groups

share their

attendance

activities and

experiences

Perfect Attendance

- Winning classes this

quarter

MyStickers

leaderboards

Parents, teachers and

pupils can nominate a

child for the

Attendance

Champion Award.

Please email your

nomination for the

attention of Mrs

Clarke-Basrai to

office@cedarchildrens

academy.org.uk

Read Antonio’s

story in mum’s

words on page

2

Group % Attend

R N/A

1 96.12

2 96.22

KS1 Total 96.17

3 96.56

4 96.10

5 95.23

6 95.84

KS2 Total 96.69

School Total 96.1

2016 - 2017 96.29

2015 - 2016 94.69

2014 - 2015 95.45

Courtney Levy

Lewis Antonio

As part of our efforts to

improve attendance, we aim

to work closely with parents

and help them in any way

that we are able. Antonio’s

mum has kindly given us her

story in the hope that it will

help other parents who may

find themselves in the same

situation.

“I just want

wanted to write

and thank the

attendance

and

educational

welfare team

for all their

support, help

and guidance

over the last two years. To cut

a long story short my child

spent most of his reception

year poorly with chronic

tonsillitis. I bounced between

the school, doctors and

hospital on many occasions

and the end result was an

attendance level of about

43% and my child was almost

a year and a half behind

academically. I was

exhausted, physically and

mentally drained, and I felt like

the world was against me. I

was just a mum wanting her

child to get better and do well

at school.

At my lowest point i attended

an attendance meeting with

Mrs Clarke-Basrai, an

academy attendance officer

and a council representative. I

was petrified of being fined

and of no one listening or

understanding what I was

going through. I completely

broke down and was a

blubbering mess. To my

surprise they listened to all i

had to say, they offered words

of support and

encouragement and also

tissues to mop up my floods of

tears. I had felt stuck between

the school wanting my child to

be in school full time and the

doctors telling me that my

child's illness was nothing to

worry about.

My child ended up having an

operation to sort his health

problems and at the start of

year one 1 was told he

probably wouldn’t pass his

tests at the end of the year. I

did my utmost

to keep him

healthy and in

school and I

helped him

with extra

work at home.

At the end of

year 1 he

passed his tests

with results in the high 80s and

low 90s and an attendance

mark of 76%.

Three weeks ago I had yet

another attendance meeting

letter and last week I once

again went to another

meeting, this time with a

difference… I met the same

three people, yet this time

there were

smiles all round.

It was a

meeting to say

well done,

because since

the beginning

of September

this year, my

son has only

had three days off school and

this half term he is currently at

100% attendance. He is also

now on par with his peers in his

class. Its been two long years

to get him to this point but I

couldn’t have done it without

the understanding of the

Educational Welfare Team.

My son is living proof that

attendance does matter and

is so important. The

Educational Welfare Team are

not there to be awkward or

make your life a misery, they

are there to help and support

you and your child. Don't

leave it to late to ask for their

help, your child needs you to

do the best you can for

them.”

Thank you for your

encouraging words. We are

very proud of the

improvement that Antonio

has made and are excited

to see the positive impact

that this will make on his

education and his future.

Attendance; A Parent’s Perspective

If you have

any concerns

with regards

to your child’s

attendance,

please speak

to us

If your child is going to be absent, please contact the office before 8.50am—01634 338260

“Don't leave it

to late to ask

for help, your

child needs

you to do the

best you can

for them.”

“My son is

living proof

that

attendance

does matter

and is so

important. “

Attendance Around School

Reception Year

A child in year R was consistently late at the beginning of the year

and was missing out on their name writing practise during Early

Morning Work. Due to this, the child initially really struggled with

writing their name but once their punctuality improved, so did their

name writing.

Year 1

We are very proud of our attendance this term and would like to

thank the parents with their continued support. Children who arrive

on time, have positive routines, and are ready and prepared for

their learning. It is great to see so many children coming into

school happy and excited to be here with such positive attitudes.

We are still working on perfect attendance in all classes. Congratu-

lations to Maple Class who have achieved this. Across the year

group we currently have just under a third of our children who are

under 96% attendance. We are working very hard to improve this.

Year 2

We have used our yellow hat to think about the benefits of coming to

school on time and the black hat to think about the limitations of coming

to school late.

When thinking about the benefits, the children’s responses were:

We get to see our friends

We are ready to learn

We get to say good morning for the register

If everyone is in, we get a letter for Perfect Attendance

We get to help set up the classroom

When thinking about the limitations, the children’s responses were:

You have to walk in when everyone’s ready

You miss the register

You don’t get to see your friends as much

You won’t know what to do

You will miss the carpet learning

After this, we looked at whether the benefits and limitations were the same

for if you don’t come to school for a day. The children really enjoyed think-

ing about the different parts of the school day that they would miss just

from being late to missing a day(s).

Year 3

Larch celebrated their 'perfect attendance' reward

by having an extra playtime! The children really enjoyed

this extra time outside. We made it clear in Year 3, that if

they all come to school every day, there are lots of benefits

to their learning and so they receive a treat!

We are also really proud of Lewis for receiving the Attend-

ance Champion Award last term - we hope other children

in Year 3 win this award soon! Well done Lewis!

Year 5

Year 4

Linden Class were very proud to be the first class in the school to gain their

‘Perfect Attendance’ award for everyone in the class being in school on

time for 17 days. They enjoyed the privilege of being able to choose their

reward and discussed different options such as watching short film or extra

playtime. In the end, they chose extra playtime. Poplar Class soon caught

up and had their first reward in November choosing extra playtime as well.

In Birch Class, children are competing with Linden to beat them to their

next attendance award. At the moment, it looks as though Linden are

going to win by getting their second reward but Birch will keep trying! We

would like to give a special mention to Bobbie-Leigh has really improved

her attendance this term, not only arriving more often for school, but also

arriving on time. She has a difficult journey to school so we are proud that

she has improved her attendance from 43% at one point to 54% now. Well

done Bobbie-Leigh.

Year 6

This term, Mrs Clarke has given year 6 a very important job to do.

We have been asked to create a video about attendance that

can be posted on the school Facebook, Twitter and website. We

began this task by spending a lesson looking at the importance of

attending school. We also discussed where else it is important to

attend in the wider community. We created a Multi Flow Map to

show what causes us to attend school and what he impact is if

we don’t. This created lots of discussions. You can see an exam-

ple of the work below.

The next lesson focused on us looking at attendance videos that

are already out there and using our Thinking Hats to analyse

them. We then used these to help us start thinking about our own

ideas and creating out storyboards for the video. We now have

to work on how we are going to turn our ideas into reality. Keep

your eyes peeled on Cedar’s social media for the attendance

video coming soon.

whether it is backgrounds,

pets or clothes. In the future

you will even be able to trade

these points in for physical

prizes! Don't forget that every

achievement you receive

earns you an entry in the

national prize draw that is run

by MyStickers, keep a look out

at the prizes page to see what

you could win. Every winner is

notified through the school.

All competitions are posted on

the MyStickers “News” and

also in the school’s weekly

newsletter. If you are

experiencing problems with

MyStickers or are not yet

registered, please speak to

the office.

With your MyStickers account

you can fully personalise your

own avatar, from its hair to its

clothes, it is always good fun

and you can change it

whenever you wish. Within

your account you can also

keep track of all your

achievements through school,

whether you are entering your

codes or whether you receive

them from the teacher you

have your own online album

of all your rewards. Rewards

are given for attendance,

homework and good

behaviour around school.

All of your achievements earn

you points that you can spend

on new items for your avatar,

Are you signed up to MyStickers?

Perfect Attendance

You may have noticed our Scrabble-themed Perfect Attendance boards in

the walkway between the infant and junior

buildings. For every day that all of the children

are present and on time in the class, they class

are awarded with a

letter. When their

class has spelt out

the words “Perfect

Attendance”, they

win a treat for their class. The teacher picks

three possible treats

and the children vote

on which one they would like.

Please look out for the boards and the letters in

your child’s classroom to keep up to date with

the latest leaders! So far in terms 1 & 2, Maple,

Chestnut, Larch, Poplar, Linden & Laburnum have

all won the Perfect Attendance Award.

MyStickers Top 10

For Attendance

Name Class Points

Freya G Pine 1325

Keeley J Poplar 1325

Jack S Poplar 1325

Emily T Birch 1325

Jemima S Poplar 1300

Nyssa R Acacia 1300

Chloe S Willow 1250

Lacey W Pine 1225

Eden B Poplar 1225

Samuel B Chestnut 1225