Since taking over as Head at Thurlbear, I have told visitors and new families that our strength is our school community and our weakness…can sometimes be our geographical place in the community. This week has seen a number of challenges in the surrounding lanes, but our collective best endeavours got us through. As our new families join, plus a new minibus service has begun its service, a few points have arisen:
– Please consider using our car park drop-off from 8:40am. This means you do not need to find a parking space in the mornings and it helps to maintain the flow of traffic. A member of staff is always there to help and direct pupils into the playground. Chestnut Class are welcome to walk their children into line, but we can always have trusted and welcoming staff there to help you leave quickly!
– Some families have been in touch and are considering car shares from locations around the area, which could be of benefit to you. This isn’t something we can manage as a school, but perhaps a discussion-point for any parental groups. If anyone does begin a car-share system, please do let us know who is picking up when.
– The minibus service is in full swing for some families. This is provided by Local Authority school transport and not organised by us. For families on the bus, organising our daily list can be a challenge, so please let us know by 1pm if your child is not getting on the bus. Please also let the company know, so we have a ‘2-factor-safeguarding’ and they also know who they are collecting and allows the swift exit of the bus.
Sadly, the Local Authority have closed the IT Service for Schools, meaning that many services that they provided for us are now having to be out-sourced to third parties. One of these is now hosting our school website, which has been very challenging in transition. An element to have disappeared from our site is the ability to subscribe to our latest news! This, I am hoping, will be solved by Monday and I am ‘upskilling’ myself in the meantime.
National and Local Authority guidance on school absence has changed, this year. There is a sharper focus on term-time holiday fines and punctuality. I have attached the PDF guide for families to read:
Some things to consider from the update:
The School Attendance Regulations 2024 state that a Head may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless ‘exceptional circumstances’ and Heads do not have any discretion to authorise ten days of absence.
I am ‘required to consider whether a penalty notice is appropriate when a child reaches 10 sessions (5 days) of unauthorised absence within a 10-school-week rolling period’, so please do monitor your child’s attendance over a longer period and not just that week in school.
I always try and communicate with families fairly, honestly and transparently and £160 penalty notices would be a last resort in the relationship between home and school. If families take several term-time holidays over the academic year, then it is more likely that these will be escalated.
It is crucial to note: Our school coding has changed, and we now no longer have ‘L’ for late after our registers close. We are now guided to class this as an unauthorised absence, if a pupil comes to school after the online register closes. Being here before the 9am bell ensures you are on-time. Teachers close the registers between 9-9:05am. Getting to school after this time could mean an unauthorised absence code, judging by our updated stipulations. Obviously, there are times on our roads where teachers are flexible with their timings on my request and you will hopefully know I try and work with families as much as possible. However, this is will only be in unusual circumstances. If our minibus pupils were late arriving on the bus, they would not be classed as absent. Our attendance is historically very good, so we hope to keep working together to ensure our pupils enjoy coming to school on time and with a smile.
JUAL Clothing company have added a new sky-blue t-shirt top their catalogue for Thurlbear School. This can be used for PE and, possibly, is a good fit for anyone attending running competitions such as cross-country, this academic year. Our uniform does not need to be branded with our logo and we have a selection of second-hand, good-quality clothes in school. If you can source it at a good price and it fits our colour scheme, then that is great. PLEASE name everything, as we already have a small collection of unnamed coats waiting for collection! Please note that the hoodie available is generally used for games / PE and not a general-wear item.
Thursday: Girls’ tag Rugby Tournament @ Taunton Rugby Club
Friday: Year 6 Celebration Worship and Workers of the Week
