Thank you

Dear Parents and Carers,

This is the penultimate Newsflash before the end of term and I would like to remind parents that at Gateacre School we teach and learn right up to the last minute in school, so rest assured that if your child tells you next week that it is all videos and board games, that will absolutely not be the case and we expect excellent attendance all next week until we finish on Friday 19^th July at 12:00pm.

Attendance Matters

Last week I spoke to you about how much we have improved whole school attendance over the three years I have been Headteacher here at Gateacre.  Although it may at times appear that I am constantly moaning about attendance being too low and we are not at same level as other schools nationally, I do think it is important to reinforce and remind parents and carers that in 2016 the school had an attendance figure of 89% and we are now very close to 93%.

Attendance Matters

Whilst we have had a number of below 90% attendance days in some year groups, it is important to compare the current attendance to the same point last year in order to see year-on-year improvement.

Attendance matters

Really impressive attendance this week Monday to Thursday from Years 8 through to 10, a little slip below 94% for Year 8 yesterday and Year 9 on Monday.  But on the whole a really impressive week and something that certainly within school we are seeing such huge benefits from; better engagement in lessons, better progress being made, more smiles on faces, less gaps in pupils books.

Attendance Matters

Big week for Year 10 with mock exams taking place and, quite honestly, what a culture shift there has been in what is relatively only a short period of time. More pupils spending more time openly revising in the atrium, setting a fantastic example for the rest of the school that have been able to see some outstanding pupil leadership, working hard and effort matters.  A really proud moment for us. 

Monday to Thursday has just been exceptional whole school, above national average near enough every day, years 7 and 8 have been fantastic.  After 3 years of hard work we are all really pleased with how school attendance is now showing an incredible turnaround (when I started we were in real trouble as the previous year average was 89%).  Thanks to your support, we have made some huge improvements but let’s keep going, keep getting better and keep improving even more.

Attendance Matters

A yo-yo start to the week for a couple of year groups in the high 80s, Year 8 though have had a really strong start and continued to hold a high level of attendance.

Attendance Matters

As the end of half term approaches we tend to see a dip again across all year groups, which is obviously concerning. 

Attendance Matters

We’ve started to see a more improved pattern with all Year groups seeing at least one day with 94% or above.

Attendance matters

Regular readers will know that last week we saw some exceptionally well attended days across Years 7 to 10.  However, Friday rolled around and unfortunately we were unable to sustain the momentum that I thought we were starting to develop.