Dear Parents / Carers
Lost Learning Due to Absence
Attendance percentages can be misleading. For some parents, 90% attendance may seem like an acceptable level of attendance but the reality is that 90% attendance means that your child will miss half a day of school each week or 19 full days in a year.
When children miss school, they often return to find that friendship groups have changed, new shared memories have been formed and the learning has moved on making it difficult for them to catch up and keep up and feel part of the Neston Team. Redeployment of teaching staff to ensure that children who have been absent on holiday are able to catch up, is simply not an option. Our TAs are deployed to support specific children at specific times on specific academic and social targets.
This is a snapshot of one day in our Reception class and the learning children will miss if they do not attend:-
Fine motor skills practise
Maths – subitising
Number recognition and counting
Assessments in groups and intervention group to support “keep up activities”
Phonics –the letter sound being taught that day. (A new sound is introduced most days.) They will miss learning to recognise, say, write and read that sound. This will impact on their fluency and in turn a love of reading.
Science – use of globes and learning about animals, people and landscapes
Letter formation and use of Numicon
Social interactions, building resilience, learning from mistakes and developing a sense of belonging and a love of learning.
In year 5, a child will miss the following, if they are absent for just one day:-
Continuation of the class novel “The Buried Crown” by Ally Sherrick plus book analysis and a love of reading.
Fractions. To divide whole numbers to create fractions; to create mixed numbers and improper fractions when dividing whole numbers.
Earth and Space – key concepts, ideas and vocabulary e.g. describing the movement of the Earth, relative to the Sun in the solar system and report and present findings, draw conclusions, explain and evaluate their methods and findings.
Hinduism – How can Brahman be everywhere and in everything?
Social interactions, building resilience, learning from mistakes and developing a sense of belonging and a love of learning.
Learning builds on learning and our curriculum is designed so that children build knowledge over time. The curriculum moves at a fast pace and children need to know more and remember more over time. Any lost learning significantly impacts on this.
Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.
Mrs Pam Evans
Head Teacher
