Dear All

I would like to welcome a new member of staff to the school. Riley Bower is our new Premises Assistant and started with us yesterday, many of you will know him from gymnastic sessions.

As part of the PHSE Curriculum children are taught about British Values. The British Values can be seen in the diagram below; the children remember them using the hand sign.

For the past couple of weeks, we have been considering the value of Democracy. All children have been given the chance to put themselves forward for our new Pupil parliament. A pupil parliament is a democratically elected body of children who represent their peers' opinions, raise issues, and contribute to decision-making within a school, similar to a real parliament. The core purpose is to give pupils a voice, enabling them to influence school policies, projects, and activities for the benefit of the whole school community

 Children who wish to stand for election have written and presented their applications to their classmates. On Monday, we’ll hold our Bletchingley Village Primary School Election, where all pupils and staff will vote for their class representatives. Successful candidates will be announced in next week’s newsletter

Thank you for all the contributions we received today for Young Minds’ Hello Yellow campaign to support children and young people’s mental health. If you would still like to donate please follow this link https://fundraise.youngminds.org.uk/fundraisers/sarahfletcher/hello-yellow

Parents Evenings are coming up after half term, following feedback from parents we will be doing this slightly differently this year. The 11^th November will be face to face meetings in the hall and the 13^th will be phone meetings. The appointments will be released next week for you to sign up to. 

The children from years 1 - 6 will be at St Mary's Church for the Harvest Festival, next Wednesday afternoon, parents are welcome to join us. School staff will walk the children down, any parents wanting to support with this would be very welcome.  Parents should arrive from 1.45 for a 2pm start. At the end of the afternoon, if you wish to take your child from the church will need to sign them out with the class teacher. I look forward to seeing you there.

Have a restful weekend

Denise Coady

Penalty Notices to Address Poor Attendance at School

A Penalty Notice may be issued as an alternative to the prosecution of a parent/carer for their child’s unauthorised absence from school (absence without the agreement of the school or not covered by a medical note) and will be used by Surrey County Council in the following circumstances :-

Just to remind parents/carers that if they take their children out of school without authority for 5 or more days (which do not have to be consecutive), then the following will apply:

1.           If you have not incurred a penalty notice relating to this child/children in a rolling 3 year period since 19 August 2024, then the penalty notice will be charged at the rate of £160.00, per parent/carer per child, if paid within 28 days. This will be reduced to £80.00 if paid within 21 days of receipt of the notice. Failure to pay the Penalty Notice will result in Surrey County Council considering legal proceedings against you in the Magistrates Court.

 2.           If you have incurred a penalty notice relating to this child/children since 19 August 2024, the rolling 3 year period will be activated from the date of the first penalty notice and the second penalty notice will be charged at the flat rate of £160.00, per parent/carer per child, if paid within 28 days. There will be no reduction for payment within 21 days. Failure to pay the Penalty Notice will result in Surrey County Council considering legal proceedings against you in the Magistrates Court.

 3.           If you have incurred 2 penalty notices relating to this child/children in the rolling 3 year period since the first penalty notice was issued, then you will NOT receive a third penalty notice – Surrey County Council will have no option but to consider a prosecution, per parent/carer per child, in the Magistrates Court under s 444 Education Act 1996.

Surrey County Council is not responsible for authorising pupil absence and therefore cannot withdraw any Penalty Notice requests without the written permission of the Headteacher.