Attendance, Punctuality, Times of School Day and School Meals

The following timings of the School day have been in force since the beginning of the 2014-2015 academic year.

This change has standardised the length of lessons to 60 minutes, and ensures that the time pupils are in registration is used more effectively. A revised Pastoral Programme is now in place, which provides purpose to the registration period as an opportunity for learning and enrichment.

08:25 Students arrive at school

08:30 am - 08:50 am	Registration	20 mins
08:50 am - 09:50 am	Period 1	60 mins
09:50 am - 10:50 am	Period 2	60 mins
10:50 am - 11:10 am	Break	20 mins
11:10 am - 12:10 pm	Period 3	60 mins
12:10 pm - 1:10 pm	Period 4	60 mins
1:10 pm - 2:00 pm	Lunch	50 mins
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm	Period 5	60 mins
3:00 pm Schools ends
Total school hours provided per week = 32.5
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm	After School Clubs	60 mins

Assemblies

Our assemblies are on a rolling basis, with Year 7 having their weekly assembly on a Friday morning. Year 8 have theirs on a Thursday, with Year 9 Assembly on a Wednesday. Year 10 assembly happens on a Tuesday morning and Year 11 on a Monday.

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 If you have any comments or queries about these changes, please contact us. 

Attendance Matters

It has been proven that high levels of attainment and attendance are linked. If your child does not attend school every day on time, their chances to achieve are minimised.

From September 2015, if your if your child’s attendance level is under 90% (19 days absence a year) you could be prosecuted for failure to ensure your child’s regular attendance at school. You may be sentenced to a fine of up to £2,500 and / or a 3 month custodial sentence.

Section 444 of the 1996 Education Act states:

      "If a child of compulsory school age who is a registered pupil at a school fails to attend regularly at the school, their parent is guilty of an offence."

We look forward to working with all parents / carers in ensuring all students attend school every day, on time.

Mrs J.Devigne-Nicholls
Attendance & Welfare Officer

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Attendance Advice

There is wide agreement among educational professionals and health professionals that school attendance is vital to the life chances of children and young people. Being in school improves the health, the wellbeing, and the socialisation of young people. The greatest benefits come when children and young people attend school regularly.

We are aware that the COVID-19 pandemic may have caused some parents to feel less confident with assessing whether their child is well enough to be in school, so we hope you will find this information helpful.

For clarity, it is usually appropriate for parents and carers to send their children to school if they have a mild respiratory illness such as general cold symptoms: a minor cough, runny nose or sore throat. However, children should not be sent to school if they have a temperature of 38°C or above.

This guidance, produced by the NHS provides further information about a range of illness and ailments, and has advice about whether your child it too ill for school. If these thresholds are not met, please send your child to school so they can keep up with their learning.

NHS ‘Is my child too ill for school?’ guidance.

In addition to respiratory illnesses, we are aware that more children may be absent from school due to symptoms of anxiety, than before the pandemic. Worry and mild or moderate anxiety, whilst sometimes difficult emotions, can be a normal part of growing up for many children and young people.

Being in school can often help alleviate the underlying issues of anxiety, while a prolonged period of absence is likely to heighten a child’s anxiety about attending in the future, rather than reduce it. 

The DfE has published useful guidance on mental health issues affecting a pupil’s attendance and those who are experiencing persistent symptoms can be encouraged to access additional support.

Thank you for your continued commitment to supporting excellent attendance for your child at Prendergast Ladywell School.

 

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Approval for term-time absence  

The headteacher will only grant a leave of absence to a pupil during term time if they consider there to be 'exceptional circumstances'. A leave of absence is granted at the headteacher’s discretion, including the length of time the pupil is authorised to be absent for. 

We define ‘exceptional circumstances’ as circumstances that could not be reasonably foreseen and for which there was insufficient opportunity to take the necessary action to resolve the situation arising from those circumstances outside of school hours. 

The school considers each application for term-time absence individually, taking into account the specific facts, circumstances and relevant context behind the request.  

Any request should be submitted as soon as it is anticipated and, where possible, at least 2 weeks before the absence, and in accordance with any leave of absence request form, accessible here. The headteacher may require evidence to support any request for leave of absence.

For further information about approvals for term-time absence please refer to section 8 in our Attendance & Punctuality Policy.

 

School lunch

Please see our menus for School lunches, which are provided by Olive Dining and run on a 3-week cycle. From January 2024 Olive Dining will be offering the Spring menu:

Summer Menu-Week-1 (commencing Monday 15 April and every 3 weeks thereafter)

Summer Menu-Week-2  (commencing Monday  22 April and every 3 weeks thereafter)

Summer Menu-Week-3 (commencing Monday 29 April and every 3 weeks thereafter)

Please see Olive Dining's Food Allergen Information

At Prendergast Ladywell School, we operate a cashless system for students to pay for snacks at break-time and School lunch. You may find our Cashless Guide to PLS useful.

If you initially declined the opportunity for your child to use their fingerprint to access the cashless canteen system and have since changed your mind, please complete the Biometrics (cashless catering) Form, which provides us with permission to do this. 

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ParentMail

Our cashless catering system is linked to ParentMail, so you can top up your child's lunch account, and also see how they are spending their money at the canteen.

Students who are in receipt of Free School Meals can also log on and check that their child has taken a school lunch, and how they spend any money you credit to their account.

If you have not yet registered with ParentMail, please do! You can use the free App to keep track of all School correspondence and School Reports, as well as pay for things like School Trips and top up cashless catering accounts.

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Free school lunches

Is your child eligible for free school meals and entitled to additional funding to help with their education?

If you are currently in receipt of benefits or believe that you may be classed as a low-income family, please follow the instructions below to check if your child/children are eligible for free school meals. The process takes less than two minutes and does not require any of your financial details.  There are no difficult forms to fill in and no information about your income/benefits is ever given to the school.

If your child is eligible for free school meals, the school will receive additional funding for your child/children which will be used to support them to help them reach their full academic potential in a variety of different ways.  This funding is known as pupil premium.  In addition to being eligible for free lunches, the funding may also be used to pay for after school clubs, school trips, violin or guitar lessons or music exams.

Instructions for how to check if you are eligible

FSM-guide-for-parents-at-a-non-LGfL-school-January-2022

Go to https://pps.lgfl.org.uk/

Click the button CHECK ELIBIGILITY then on the next page click PROCEED (you do not need to create an account) then select

Local Authority         Lewisham

School: (whichever applies)

• Prendergast Ladywell School
• Prendergast Vale School
• Prendergast School

On the next page it will say OVERVIEW – scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the box to say that you have read the privacy notice

On the next page enter your first and last names and your national insurance number (or National Asylum Seeker Service number)

If your child/children are eligible for free school meals, a certificate will be generated that you can print off and send in or email it to the school office.

Further help

If you do not have access to the internet, we can do the check at school with you.

More information about whether you might be eligible can be found here https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals

Don’t miss out – apply today.

What is Class Charts?

At Prendergast Ladywell School we use an application called Class Charts to help you keep track of your child’s achievements, access behaviour reports, view assigned homework tasks and track scheduled detentions. It is also the main conduit for communicating with parents regarding how their child’s day has been and any updates regarding school events and announcements.

The parent Class Charts application runs alongside the teacher version of the application. When using the application, you will be able to use Class Charts to keep track of your child’s behaviour and who their teachers are, view assigned homework tasks, track scheduled detentions, celebrate your child’s achievements, and view announcements from their school. If you have more than one child, you can access Class Charts information about your children from a single, centralised parent account.

Class Charts for parents can be accessed via the Class Charts website, or using iOS and Android apps.

You can access the parent website and links to the parent Apps at:

https://www.classcharts.com/parent/login

You will need to be given an access code by us to log in. If you are new to the school or have not received your child’s access code, you may email reception@prendergast-ladywell.com so that one of our team can provide you with the relevant information.

More info can be found in tab below.