Welcome to the weekly Newsletter for parents and carers of students attending
John Hanson Community School
Inspire - Care - Succeed
‘HEAD’ Lines
The importance of being here
Dear Parents/Carers
This week the Department for Education have produced a series of reports and resources to further support schools with tackling poor attendance.
Attendance rates nationally are much lower than they were pre-pandemic and there are a greater number of students who fall in to the category of ‘persistently absent’ – missing more than 10% of school (1 school day per fortnight) and ’severely absent’ – missing more than 50% of school days. Further, more students are missing school on Fridays and in the last week of a term.
Half a Friday missed a fortnight is a tenth of the school year
The last week of term is at least 8% of the terms learning
There continues to be really clear evidence showing that even small amounts of absence from school can have a significant impact not only on academic outcomes, but also on overall student wellbeing.
You would expect the school to focus significant time and resource on making sure that every student attends school as often as possible, support them in doing so, but also, where appropriate, remind parents of their responsibility regarding attendance and alert them if there is a danger that this is slipping in to the persistent or severe category.
A reminder that government guidance states:
“It will usually be appropriate for parents and carers to send their children to school with mild respiratory illnesses…a minor cough, runny nose or sore throat, [but not] if they have a temperature of 38°C or above.”
A reminder of the stark facts:
National school absence has become endemic. Over the last couple of years, over a third of all pupils in years 10 and 11 were either persistently or severely absent for at least one year.
Poor attendance has a dramatic relationship with GCSE results. While 78% of all children who were rarely absent in both years passed at least 5 GCSEs including English and maths, only 36% of children who were persistently absent in both years and just 5% of children who were severely absent in both years reached this same standard.
When pupils’ attendance improves, the likelihood of achieving qualifications at the end of school massively increases. More than half (54%) of pupils who were persistently absent in Year 10 and then rarely absent in Year 11 passed at least 5 GCSEs including English and Maths, compared to 36% of pupils who were persistently absent in both years.
Our findings confirm the strong link between absence and attainment.
At John Hanson those students who attend for more than 95% (less than half a day’s missed school per fortnight) do so much better than those students with attendance below 90% (1 days missed school per fortnight):
95%+ attendance: grade 4+ in English and Maths in 2023 – 75%
Below 90% attendance (persistently absent): grade 4+ in English and Maths in 2023 – 32%
Every lesson of every day of every week impacts on student progress and outcomes.
Enjoy the weekend with your children
Regards
Russell Stevens
Headteacher
SingUp for Christmas 2023
Christmas Showcase Thursday 14th December
6pm School Hall
On Thursday December 14th 6pm we will be holding our Christmas Showcase – Sing Up for Christmas.
The showcase takes place in the school hall at 6pm and we hope you will come along and join in with this fun Christmas show. We would love to have many students taking part, and a huge audience so that we can really raise the roof and have a fun evening. Funds raised from collection will go towards our school show GREASE!
Tickets that have been reserved
need to be collected from Mr Adams asap
The showcase will also feature solos, dances, and extracts from our school show Grease which goes on stage in January ’24.
See you there on 14th December at 6pm
This week our talented dancers took to the stage for our first Dancing Showcase. Fantastic performances from the students much appreciated by a large audience. Thanks to Mrs Randall for all her hard work with this show.
Below is the latest haul from the lost property box.
If your child has lost a blazer, jumper, trousers, coat, pe kits, trainers or shoes please encourage them to come and have a look through the lost property box.
Please remember to name all the school clothes so we can return the items back to your child.
Any property not claimed with be recycled either to the 2nd hand shop or into the clothe bin at the end of this term.
Students are reminded that the deadline for entering the Young Writer’s 100-word mini-saga competition “The Glitch” is Wednesday 13th December. Full information can be found on the Young Writers Website and Mrs Bailey is in the LRC between 8:10am and 4pm Monday to Friday to give more information, guidance and inspiration. Students can also write their entries at Creative Writing Club – every Wednesday after school with Miss Cook in M15.
The Andover Charities is an organisation which has been in existence in Andover in one form or another since the 1400s, and are able to assist families who live in Andover (north of the A303), including Picket Piece, Picket Twenty, and Augusta Park.
They offer up to £100 Asda or Tesco vouchers per household per year for people in need whether they are on benefits or not. Due to the high rise in the cost of living the charity has found that more and more families are on need of their services.
There are no restrictions on the form as anyone can apply who live in Andover.
Forms will be collated by Mrs Bush and then forwarded onto the Charity. The Charity will decide who will receive the voucher and will deliver the vouchers to the school to be distributed to the families via the student.
Please bear in mind that if you have already received one of these vouchers from another source such as TVBC, Family Support Worker, Citizen Advice then you will not be able to apply this year.
Tuesday Jan 30th 2024 Wednesday 31st January 2024 Thursday 1st February 2024
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
At John Hanson Community School we are committed to providing equality of opportunity for all students and staff, and to providing a working environment free from discrimination, prejudice and harassment.
We encourage respect and consideration for others, and recognise and value the school as a safe place for learning. The staff at John Hanson recognise that inequalities exist in all levels of society and believe, that as educators, we have a crucial role to play in eliminating all forms of discrimination, in particular against anyone with any of the protected characteristic. We promote equality by dealing with bullying and incidents of discrimination immediately and by educating the young people in our care through assemblies, tutor time, PSHE day sessions and group work where appropriate.
This is part of our responsibility in preparing our students for life after school.
Important EDI events over the next week:
Human Rights Month. 1st World AIDS Day. 3rd International Day of persons with disabilities
Words you might not know:
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that damages the cells in your immune system and weakens your ability to fight everyday infections and disease. AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is the name used to describe a number of potentially life-threatening infections and illnesses that happen when your immune system has been severely damaged by the HIV virus. There's currently no cure for HIV, but there are highly effective drug treatments that enable most people with the virus to live a long and healthy life; with an early diagnosis and on-going treatments, most people with HIV will not develop any AIDS-related illnesses, will not infect others with the virus and will live a near-normal lifespan.
Diversity, Equality and Inclusion at John Hanson.
Please find attached the latest DEI newsletter on Men’s Mental Health. The DEI team will be producing one of these every term for you and your parents to read through – if you have any ideas for content please see Mrs Curtis, Mrs Ferris or Mrs Grinstead. Click here to download the newsletter
College Open Events.
Please do check the individual websites for any changes to the schedule before setting off to visit them
Please encourage your son/daughter to use their SCHOOL EMAIL for work rather than their own private email. This is important for safeguarding and also some of our messages for students are being sent to school email addresses.
Think you know – Activity Packs relating to online safety Who’s watching yours? – 17% increase in children livestreaming since lockdown (Advice to help parents/carers minimise risk to children online) Mental health – How to look after your family’s mental health when stuck indoors Houseparty – Everything you need to know.
John Hanson Computing Department
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