Attendance Guide for Parents/Carers

What YOU will do:

Report your child’s absence to the school office. Try to telephone or email by 9am.

Tell the school in advance of any medical or dental appointments, using the Leave of Absence form that is on the school website. A hard copy can be obtained from the main office.

Check the NHS guidance if you are unsure whether your child is well enough to be in school. The guidance is clear that it is fine to send them in with a minor cough or cold, provided they don’t have a temperature.

Have a backup plan if your child misses transport.

What WE will do:

Check your child’s attendance every day.

Phone home to discuss your child’s attendance with you.

Our Family Engagement and Therapies Lead will work with you to offer support or guidance.

Invite you into school for attendance meetings if we are concerned.

Working together to improve attendance

We understand that attending school can be tricky sometimes. We want to work with your child and you to ensure they feel confident to come to school.

If you and your child are experiencing difficulties with school attendance the talk to as a first step so that we can work together to help.

If you need to ask for absence during term time for exceptional circumstances please submit the Leave of Absence form that is on the school website or available from the main office.

Volunteering At The Valley School

We are looking for volunteers to support with transporting students who attend alternative provisions during the day.

If you have a clean driving licence, feel confident in driving one of our school cars, are happy to have a DBS check and would be willing to complete a short competency assessment with our Site Manager, we would love to hear from you.

The dates and times can be seen below:

Monday: 9:45am collection from The Valley and drop off at The Block, Hitchin

Monday: 2:30pm collection from The Block and return to The Valley

Tuesday:  9:45am collection from The Valley and drop off at The Block

Tuesday: 2:30pm collection from The Block and return to The Valley

Wednesday: 9:10am collection from The Valley and dropped off at EOB, Letchworth

Wednesday: 2:30pm collection from EOB and returned to The Valley

Thursday: 9:10am collection from The Valley and dropped off at EOB

Thursday: 2:30pm collection from EOB and returned to The Valley

Any support offered would free up staff whose professionalism could be redirected elsewhere.

Thank you for your anticipated support.

Herts Arts

On the 10^th of October I had the privilege of attending the Herts Arts concert which celebrates the creative talents of our young people.

Miami, one of our Year 8 students, performed an amazing solo of the Foo Fighters song, “Times Like These” supported by a group of young people from all across North Hertfordshire, whilst playing the Ukele. In this group were two former Valley School students, Yasmin and Dan.

Miami made us so proud; she performed with confidence and sang beautifully. She should be commended for all her efforts and was an amazing ambassador for the school.  Well done Miami.

Sleeping Beauty School Trip

On Wednesday 6^th December we ran a trip to The Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage to see their production of Sleeping Beauty.  The students had a wonderful time, thoroughly enjoying the performance.