Dear Families,
Many thanks again for your understanding over the last two weeks with regards to staff sickness, which has affected both settings, and the power cut at Sand Hutton which impacted school lunches. I am hoping the situations will be more settled moving forwards.
I would like to share, as I always do at this time each year, some national figures relating to school absence and the impact on outcomes for pupils. Graphs showing the impact of school absence demonstrate that there's a negative correlation between absence and educational attainment, with persistent absence leading to significantly lower achievement levels in key stages. Graphs also track the overall trend of school absence rates, showing a rise since the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by a gradual decrease, though rates remain
higher than pre-pandemic levels. While we obviously wouldn’t want unwell children in school, for themselves or the welfare of others, we would ask you to consider the impact of taking time out of school in term time for other reasons and how this impacts cumulatively over time.
I am also sharing the link to the updated Government information around this subject. (I am well
aware or the irony of the timing of this following the staff sickness crisis of the last couple of weeks
and the subsequent impact this may have had on families and apologize again for any
inconvenience.)
Many thanks to the Sand Hutton PTA for their kind postponement of the Big Help Out last weekend,
allowing staff to rest after a somewhat unusual week!
In more cheerful matters, I hope those of you who attended the Robinwood celebration at Sand Hutton today enjoyed the photographs and stories. I would like to say, again, just what great ambassadors for our schools your children were and how much we enjoyed spending those three days with them! In the same vein, I am really looking forward to spending the day at Eureka with the Infant Class from Warthill and Class 1 from Sand Hutton the week after next. It is always a real treat of a trip at Eureka! I am also thrilled at the idea that both our schools will be sharing this experience together. Thank you to both our PTAs for lending some financial support for the bus for this event and Robinwood. So often the cost of the coach is the most expensive part of any visit and we are so very lucky to have this subsidised in this way.
I hope that you have something lovely planned for the weekend ahead and look forward to a more settled week ahead.
With every best wish,
Beverley Pawson
Headteacher
Sand Hutton and Wrathill Federated Schools