School Newsletter : 20 October 2023

Our Parent Staff Association, Friends of Burdett-Coutts will be having their AGM on Wednesday 1st November, from 09:00 – 10:00am in the Ground Floor Hall.

As a parent, carer or a guardian of a child that attends our school, you are automatically a member of our PSA, so do come along to help fund-raise and support their school-based initiatives.

Even if you only have a small amount of time, you can still benefit from this amazing chance to participate more in school life. Whether you are committee member or a volunteer, you will be making a difference to the school experience for your child and other pupils in the school.

Please register your interest with the school office by Tuesday 31st October, so that we can accurately cater for the event.

If you have any questions or queries, please send them in via email to office@burdettcoutts.co.uk or speak to Miss Rachida in the Nursery.

A polite reminder that all parents & carers of children currently in Year 6 must complete their secondary school application by 31st October 2023.

To support you in your decision making, most secondary school in all boroughs will be hosting open evening sessions which you are very encouraged to attend.

Please refer to the information leaflet that was sent home with your child last week, and further copies can be found in the school office.

Please ensure that your child is wearing the correct PE kit to school each week.

Pupils who are not wearing their full PE kit will not be able to participate in lessons, and a note will be sent home indicating why they were not able to participate.

The full PE kit for the Autumn/Winter term is as follows:

• Plain navy blue leggings or tracksuit bottoms
• School navy blue PE t-shirt
• School navy blue sweatshirt (all year groups).
• Pupils in KS2 (Years 3 – 6) must wear a school navy sweatshirt for PE and NOT their school jumper.
• Plain black trainers (velcro if your child struggles with shoe laces)
• Please ensure all items of uniform are clearly labelled (with a permanent pen or label)

We are now moving to email updates and notifications, and only using text messaging when reminders are urgently needed.

Please check your Spam folders and if you haven’t seen any emails from us, please contact the school office so that we can check that we have the correct email address for you.

If you would like your child to move from bringing a packed lunch to having a school meal, you must inform the office at least a week in advance of this change being made. Kindly note pupils are not allowed to alternate between having packed lunches and/or school meals on a daily or weekly basis. If you have any questions, please see a member of the school admin staff at the school office.

You can find the current school lunch menu here >

If you require a printed copy, please ask at the school office. Should you have any questions about the menu, kindly make an appointment to speak with Miss Barnett.

If you are eligible for Free School Meals, you can collect your child’s FSM voucher for the October Half term from the school office, directly after we return from the half term break on Monday 30th October.

Why good school attendance matters: Missing a few days of school here and there may not seem a big deal, but research shows that it can have a significant impact on children’s learning.

Children who miss a substantial amount of school fall behind their peers, and struggle to catch up. Most of the work they miss is never made up, which can lead to big gaps in their learning.

• Poor attendance often starts at primary school and children who fall into this pattern are likely to under-achieve at secondary school.
• Pupils who miss between 10 and 20% of school (that’s 19 – 38 days per year) stand only a 35% chance of achieving five or more good GCSEs, compared to 73% of those who miss fewer than 5% of school days.
• An attendance rate of 95% is generally considered good; this allows for children to miss 9.5 days across the school year.
• Persistent absence (PA) is defined as an attendance rate of 90% or below.
• All pupils are expected to have an attendance rate of 95% or higher.

Attendance class of the week: Each week we will be celebrating the class with the highest attendance levels.