So we’ve reached the end of our first half term and it’s been a busy one to say the least! It’s been a particularly busy one for our Voice Club who are constantly researching, presenting their findings and looking for ways to improve our school. This term, their focus has been on the issue of Attendance and Punctuality. Our school target is 95% attendance for the year, but we’re currently falling just below that figure. We give out reward vouchers, extra play, certificates, Dojo points and have a raffle to help encourage pupils to come to school, but we’re still not quite reaching our target. Mrs Orford decided to get our Pupil Voice Club  on the case.

First of all, they carried out research into the reasons that makes some pupils miss school. They also looked at what makes pupils late for school and decided that tackling lateness was a good place to start! They worked together with Mrs Orford, Mrs Robinson and Mrs Cooke to come up with some top tips to avoid being late for school. They decided that the best way to share their tips would be to make a video and share it on our school website. Pupils in Voice Club went home and made their own storyboards showing their ideas for how the video would look and what it would include.

When I got arrived in school one day last week, I knew something was up when Mrs Orford burst through the office door with a big smile on her face and a bacon roll and cup of coffee for my breakfast! She and some of the pupils from Voice Club then asked very nicely if I would help them to direct a video using their ideas. We worked together to produce the video that they had planned.

Most of the Voice Club wanted to be in the video and some of the Year 6 pupils helped with the filming.

And here’s what we came up with…

I think you’ll agree that Mr Jones is a very strict teacher with a bad temper! It’s also worth mentioning that all the characters and their names are fictional and poor little Rosie Griffiths is played by a pupil in Year 2 who is always on time for school! The aim of the video is to make pupils and parents think about what might make them late for school and to provide some tips to help them avoid being late.

Remember:

• 5 minutes late every day = 3 days lost per year
• 10 mins late every day = 6 days lost per year
• 15 mins late every day = 10 days lost per year
• 20 mins late every day = 13 days lost per year
• 30 mins late every day = 19 days lost per year

That’s a whole lot of learning to be missing out on!

Well done to our two Attendance Raffle winners this half term, who were each given a £10 Argos voucher to spend during their week off!