September 2016

Dear Parent/Carer

I am writing to all parents/carers about the improvements we have made with regards to attendance and to thank you for your support in our drive to be outstanding. Although Netherwood is below the national average, we have seen an improvement of 1% over the last two years. This level of improvement cannot be underestimated, but we must aim to be the best we can be and in terms of student attendance we recognise that we need to increase the rate of improvement. It is important to note that 17 days lost learning will see a drop in a student’s GCSE grades.

As a school we are unwavering in our drive to continue this upward trend and know that we have the capacity to strive towards the national average of 94.9% by the end of this academic year.

We have set four targets to focus our drive towards the national average:

  1. Improve attendance on a Friday – we are seeing up to a 2% dip on a Friday compared to the rest of the week, which impacts students’ learning and progress.
  1. Year 10 and 11 have all started examination plans in lessons, which include mocks and key assessment pieces. Students must attend every day if they are to achieve their targets in the summer examinations.
  1. All students should aim to have 100% attendance in order that they are able to make the most of the learning opportunities that are available for them at Netherwood.
  1. Set 95% as a whole school attendance target that every child should meet or beat.

In order to enable us to make the next step we have developed a new attendance policy and protocol a key component of which is rewarding attendance that is outstanding. There will be weekly and half termly draws with Meadowhall vouchers, Kindles and IPad minis available for all students to win.

We are very proud of the students’ achievements and ask you to continue to support us by ensuring your child arrives punctually at 8.20am ready to start learning in lesson 1.

Yours sincerely

Mr G Smith

Assistant Principal