Dear Parents and Carers of Learners at Lliswerry High School

We want the best for all Newport children and young people and we would like to remind you of the importance of good attendance at school.

What is good attendance?

The recommendation from Welsh Government is that good attendance is at least 95% and we expect this of most children. Out of 365 days in a year, schools are open to pupils 190 days which allows 175 designated days for parents to take holidays, dental/medical appointments and other non-urgent appointments.

What are the advantages of good attendance?

Attending school has the benefit of:

* Keeping up with school work
* Ensuring that children meet their expected progress
* Meeting friends and learning and playing together
* Learning key skills needed for adult life such as regular attendance and arriving on time.

What are the consequences of poor attendance?

* Your child will fall behind in their learning and miss out on key concepts taught.
* Lack of social contact in school; difficulty in maintaining friendship groups.
* Low self-esteem and poor pupil well-being.
* Statistics show that poor attendance can be linked directly to low attainment in National tests.

Regular attendance is required by law. Following the pandemic, the Welsh Government has re-introduced the use of Fixed Penalty Notices for non-school attendance. Schools in Newport will resume their use of Fixed Penalty Notices to ensure children and young people are accessing their education. This can be issued for any absences not authorised by the school, including holidays. Newport City Council will issue these notices when concerns are raised by EWO, school or the police. The fine is £120 unless paid within 28 days when it is £60.

Contacts

If your child is absent for any reason, please contact the school to explain why.

If you need help and advice with any difficulties, contact the Education Welfare Service on 01633 210615 or email inclusionadmin.support@newport.gov.uk

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Dear Parent/Carer,

There have been no major changes to our school uniform policy, so please bear our uniform rules in mind when purchasing new uniform items over the summer. Trousers must not be skin tight or jean type and skirts should not be tight fitting and should be a maximum of 7cm above the knee. Currently the length of some girls’ skirts is not appropriate for school, however we have not asked parents/carers to purchase new skirts so close to the end of term. No leggings are to be worn. Please see the images below.

All learners must wear a Lliswerry High School blazer and should they be cold they can add a Lliswerry High School branded black jumper. This does not however replace the blazer. A school tie must also be worn at all times and footwear should be plain black.

The school PE kit remains the same and can be seen below.

Female – Compulsory –  Polo-shirt, either skort or shorts or leggings, and socks

Male – Compulsory –  T-shirt, shorts, and socks plus optional rugby jersey

All learners have the option of purchasing a hoodie as well as having their initials printed on their kit too (no names or nicknames). This would be at an additional change.

The only change in our uniform policy is around jewellery where, after listening to our learners, we now allow 1 small nose stud. Large hoop or dangling earrings, bars, nose rings or any other facial piercings are still not permitted.

The uniform policy is part of the school’s drive to raise standards and helps ensure that learners feel part of our school community and take pride in their appearance. Full details about the uniform  requirements can be found on the school website at https://lliswerryhigh.org/parents/uniform/.

From September, if a learner is not wearing correct and appropriate uniform, as per the school’s uniform policy, parents/carers will be expected to bring appropriate uniform items to school. If a learner persistently attends school in incorrect uniform, they may be placed in our Inclusion Room (IR). Obviously, we do not want either of these scenarios to happen, so we would ask that you work with us and support the school with this matter.

We appreciate that buying school uniform can be expensive. If the cost of school uniform is likely to be problematic for you, please do contact us on admin@lliswerryhigh.org or contact your child’s Head of Year so that we can assist you if possible. Many thanks for your support and understanding with this.

Yours sincerely

Mr D Jackson
Assistant Headteacher (Wellbeing, Inclusion and Equity)

Dear Parents and Carers,

New advice came into effect yesterday, 28^th March regarding self-isolation if a person tests positive for Covid-19.  However, the guidance for schools has not changed and it is a requirement for learners to self-isolate if they return a positive test.  Learners should self-isolate for a full 5 days from the onset of symptoms or a positive lateral flow if asymptomatic.  Then take a lateral flow on day 5 and 6 and if both are negative they can leave isolation.  This will be the situation until the 8^th April which is the end of term.  From the 8^th April, is it advised that anyone with symptoms of Covid-19 takes a lateral flow test and follows the self-isolation procedures.

The routine asymptomatic testing using lateral flows is also due to end on the 8^th April.  Therefore, when we return to school on the 25^th April we will no longer be issuing lateral flow testing kits.  For a period of time they will continue to be available from pharmacies and to order online at https://www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests

Best wishes,

Mrs L Evans
Senior Assistant Headteacher

Dear Parent/Carer,

Our mission is to enable all learners to make progress appropriate to their ability in every lesson. We want our learners to be successful and to be:

* ambitious, capable learners ready to learn throughout their lives
* enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work
* ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world
* healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.

In order to achieve this, we need a learning environment that allows teachers to teach and learners to learn. However, like all schools, we have a small number of learners who disrupt teaching and learning for others – I’m sure you would agree that this is not fair and it is not acceptable. If children are to have the best chance of becoming successful adults, they must have every opportunity to access education successfully.

I have consulted with learners (representatives from every tutor group in Years 7 to 11), staff, the local authority and the Governing Body regarding this matter.

As a result, we are amending our behaviour for learning processes (to be called Ready to Learn or ‘R2L’) from Monday 21^st March, so that any disruptive learners are not able to repeatedly stop others from making progress each day. Our ‘Ready to Learn’ approach to behaviour for learning supports our mission. This, in turn, enables our learners to develop and display the ambition, belief, determination and resilience needed to be successful in school and thereby successful after they leave school.

Ready to Learn is a whole school behaviour for learning approach which covers all aspects of school life.  It is a set of protocols that are used successfully in many secondary schools.

The aims of Ready to Learn are:

1. To prevent or remove disruptive behaviour, so that there is a culture of achievement, ambition and learning everywhere in the school, and no learning time is wasted
2. To provide clarity for staff and learners about acceptable behaviour and the consequences of misbehaviour
3. To encourage learners to take responsibility for their own actions
4. To enable teachers to deliver engaging and creative lessons, experiment and take risks and achieve the objectives of the curriculum for Wales

Rules for learners in the classroom

Always in lessons:

* Arrive on time – typically within 5 minutes of lesson start time
* Follow staff instructions, including sitting where told
* Start your bell task (lesson starter) immediately, in silence
* Listen and speak to others respectfully
* Keep off task conversations for social times
* Work in silence when adults ask you to (this enables vital exam practice)
* Stay in your seat unless told otherwise
* No eating or drinking, other than water
* Don’t call out or distract others – allow others to learn
* No mobile phones unless given permission by your teacher  

If a learner does not follow our school rules in a lesson, an adult will tell them that they have a “warning (W1)” and their name will be written on the board. If they break a further rule, a W2 will be issued and a ‘x2’ added to their name on the board. Learners are already very familiar with the ‘W1’, ‘W2’ system of warnings for unacceptable behaviour.

If they do not follow the rules for a third time (after a second warning (W2) has been awarded), they will be sent to undertake their work in the Inclusion Room (I.R.) for five lessons. This will support them to focus on their own learning and prevent them from disrupting others. Arrangements will of course be made for learners in the Inclusion Room to have their food and drink during their break and lunch times, including having access to the school canteen. Any learner who does not attend their normal lesson and truants internally will also be referred to the Inclusion Room for the same time period.

If a learner is sent to the Inclusion Room, parents or carers will be contacted via the School Comms app or via a text message. It is therefore essential that we have an up to date contact phone number for you and that you have downloaded the School Comms app. Please e-mail us at admin@lliswerryhigh.org if you need to update your contact details or require help downloading the School Comms app.

Learners will remain in the Inclusion Room until 3.15 for a short detention on the day they are sent there. This will give the member of staff who referred them time to meet with them and discuss any issues and to move forward ready for their next lesson together. After being sent to the Inclusion Room, should a learner refuse to leave the classroom their after school detention will be extended by 15 minutes.

If a learner continues to be disruptive whilst in the Inclusion Room, parents/carers will be contacted and a further consequence will be issued. This could be a referral to A41 (internal exclusion room) or an external fixed term exclusion. Upon completion of this, a meeting will be held with parents/carers and the learner will then be expected to complete their time in the Inclusion Room.

Our aim is for no learner to have to be removed from a lesson. However, I know that you want your child to have every opportunity to be successful in school, so that they have the best chances of success later in life. Therefore, it is vital that no one takes away their opportunity to learn and to make progress in lessons.

Ultimately, most of our learners are respectful and keen to learn and so it is only the small number who disrupt learning for others who will be directly affected by these changes. As I wrote at the start of this letter, as parents/carers I’m sure you would all agree that stopping others from learning is neither fair nor acceptable. Thank you very much for your support in this matter. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s Head of Year.

Best wishes,

N Davies
Headteacher

Dear Parent/Carer,

After school yesterday a Year 8 learner was knocked down by a car as he crossed the road near to the Aldi roundabout on Nash Road.

Thankfully he is now home and recovering, having spent most of the night in hospital.

Can I please ask you to once again speak to your child about their safety on the way to and from school, whether they are walking, cycling or travelling by scooter (please remember that electric scooters are banned from school site and illegal on public roads). Of course it is not only on the way to or from school that this is a matter for serious concern.

You may find this resource from ROSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) helpful: https://www.rospa.com/media/documents/road-safety/teaching-road-safety-a-guide-for-parents.pdf

Having attended the scene yesterday before police and ambulance services arrived, the sight of one of our learners lying in the road is one I never want to experience again and I would ask that we all work together to continue to do our best to educate and guide our learners/your children about keeping themselves safe.

We will be addressing this issue again in tutor time in school and thank you in advance for your support also.

Best wishes,

Neil Davies
Headteacher

Dear Parent / Carer

The local authority has asked us to send a copy of this letter to all learners at Lliswerry High School on the ALN register.  If you have any questions please email the school at admin@lliswerryhigh.org

Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal Act (ALN ET 2018) Implementation

The approach to supporting children and young people who have difficulties with learning is changing. The Welsh Government has passed new legislation, called the Additional Learning Needs (Wales) Act (the Act), which is supported by the Additional Learning Needs Code (Code). The Act and Code will replace the current legislation and guidance about special educational needs. The Welsh Government is bringing in a more flexible and responsive system of meeting the needs of children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities and are striving to deliver a fully inclusive education system for the learners of Wales.

The new system will ensure:

* needs are identified early, addressed quickly and all learners are supported to reach their potential
* that professionals are skilled and confident in identifying needs and deploying strategies to help learners overcome their barriers to learning.
* that the learner is at the centre of everything we do and that they and their parents and carers are equal partners in their learning (Person Centred Approach)

From September 1^st, 2021 the Additional Learning Needs (ALN) system set out in the Act will be fully implemented over the school years 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24. Local Authorities, Schools and Pupil Referral Units (‘PRU’s’) will move children who fall into mandated years, from the existing Special Educational Needs (‘SEN’) system to the ALN system during a three-year implementation period as follows:

* Spring and Summer terms, school year 2021/22: Nursery 1, Nursery 2, Year 1, Year 3, Year 5, Year 7, Year 10
* School year 2022-23: Nursery 1, Nursery 2, Year 1, Year 5, Year 9 and Year 10.
* School year 2023-24: Year 4 and Year 8 and any other pupils with SEN on 1 January 2022 who did not move to the ALN system during years one and two of implementation.

Here are some of the key messages about the changes and what they may mean for you and your child.

* The current graduated system of Early Years/School Action, Early Years/School Action Plus and Statements is being replaced over the course of the next 3 years. All children and young people with an identified ALN that requires an Additional Learning Provision (ALP) within the meaning of the Act, will have an Individual Development Plan (IDP). The IDP will replace all other individual plans. IDPs for children under compulsory school age, who require them, i.e.in the early years, will be maintained by local authorities.
* Most IDPs will be maintained by the school, but where it is considered unreasonable for the school to do so, the Local Authority may maintain them.
* The Act expects that all partners such as Education, Health and Social Care will work in collaboration to support children and young people with ALN.
* There will be more opportunity for children, young people, parents and carers to contribute to the creation and maintenance of IDPs through Person-Centred Planning.
* It is expected that working together more closely should help to avoid disagreements.
* All reasonable steps will be taken to ensure additional learning provision will be provided in Welsh, if required

Additional Information

The approach to implementation during the school year 2021/22 will be sequential, with the ALN system commencing for specific groups of children on 1 September 2021 and on 1 January 2022. During implementation, the ALN system will operate in parallel to the SEN system, which will gradually be phased out during the implementation period.

From 1st January 2022, the ALN system will commence for children who attend maintained schools (including PRU’s) in Nursery Years 1 and 2 (N1 and N2) and Year 1, Year 3, Year 5, Year 7 and Year 10 who have special educational provision via early years action / early years action plus or school action / school action plus. Schools and PRUs will make a decision about whether children who fall into any of these mandated years have ALN within the meaning of the Act. Having decided whether or not a child has ALN within the meaning of the Act, the school or PRU will issue an ‘IDP notice’ or a ‘no IDP notice’. It is the IDP notice, or the no IDP notice, that moves a child from the SEN system to the ALN system. 

If your son/daughter already has a  Statement  of Special Educational Needs they will not be affetced in this first year of implemntation

At any point during the three year implementation, from 1 January 2022, you or your child can ask to move to the ALN system earlier than the Local Authoirty, school or PRU had planned. This can be done by asking for an IDP notice to be issued.

If you would like any additional information or advice, please contact our ALNCo-ordinator in the first instance or you can contact your Newport ALN team, or look at our websites.

SNAP Cymru also offer free independent advice and support to parents visit: www.snapcymru.org or call their helpline on: 0808 801 0608.

Yours sincerely

Mr P White
ALNCO Lliswerry High School

Dear Parents/Carers

I hope you and your families had an enjoyable holiday period with your families.

Prior to the Christmas holidays, I wrote to you with details about learners testing using the lateral flow devices (LFD) prior to their return to school this week.  That still remains the case but there are some changes to the frequency of testing going forward which I will detail as well as some changes to the self-isolation requirements.

The guidance from the Welsh Government is that learners should now test three times a week and so we ask that learners test using LFD on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday evening.  This advice has changed from a communication yesterday. The reporting of the result on the NHS website remains unchanged https://www.gov.uk/report-covid19-result as does the reporting of a positive result to school on admin@lliswerryhigh.org If the LFD result is positive, then a PCR test must be booked and the results communicated to school on the above email address. 

Previously you may have not opted into the LFD testing process for your child.  If you now wish for them to do so simply complete this form  https://forms.gle/fddCR12dphF9Et6a8 and this will ensure that they receive the boxes of LFD going forward.

The Welsh Government have now updated their guidance over self-isolation. If your child has a positive lateral flow test or any Covid-19 symptoms, they should not attend school.  A PCR test must be booked for as soon as possible and begin to self-isolate.  If the subsequent PCR test is positive, they must self-isolate from the day symptoms started and for at least 7 full days. 

The self-isolation period includes the day symptoms started (or the day of the PCR test, if they do not have symptoms) and the next 7 full days. If your child did not originally have symptoms when the PCR was taken but they develop whilst self-isolating, the 7 days restarts from the day after symptoms started. The self-isolation period ends on day 8 as long as the LFD test taken on day 6 and another 24 hours later are both negative.

If either of the LFDs taken on day 6 or day 7 is positive, they should remain in self-isolation until 2 negative LFDs or day 10 whichever is sooner.

The guidance has also changed for close contacts of someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 and this includes their siblings.  An LFD test should be taken before leaving for school every day for 7 days or until 10 days since the last contact with the person who tested positive if that is earlier.  All test results should be reported to the NHS website and school as detailed above. 

If one of the LFD tests is positive then a PCR must be booked for within 24 hours and self-isolation begins.  If the PCR is positive, the 7 full days of self-isolation begins from the date the LFD test was taken.  If the PCR is negative, then there is no requirement to continue to self-isolate but do continue with the daily LFD testing.

For full details on the self-isolation please review the following link https://gov.wales/self-isolation

Finally, please can you also ensure that we have up to date contact details, on occasions learners are developing Covid-19 symptoms whilst in school and so it is vital that we are able to contact you immediately. 

Welsh Government are continually reviewing their guidance and therefore we will immediately update you with regards to any further changes as soon as we become aware.

Best wishes,

Mrs L Evans
Senior Assistant Headteacher

Please find a letter from Newport’s Chief Education Officer below/attached, regarding inappropriate use of social.

Dear Parent / Guardian,

Inappropriate Use of Social Media

Unfortunately, it has come to our attention that social media accounts have been set up on platforms such as TikTok, that are designed to look like official school accounts, to which pupils have been uploading short videos.

Recent incidents have involved inappropriate posts and videos being uploaded to such accounts that are offensive, discriminatory or defamatory. Such posts cause distress to others and may be illegal.

We would kindly request that you speak to your child / children and remind them of the dangers associated with the misuse of social media in this way and that activity of the kind described above could lead to serious consequences.

If the perpetrator of offensive content is found to be a pupil at a school within the Local authority, they will be dealt with according to that school’s disciplinary policy and could be reported to the police for further action if appropriate.

You may also wish to check your children’s devices / social media accounts to ensure any inappropriate videos, pictures or other content is deleted. Schools will continue to monitor social media channels including TikTok in future and will take action as and when appropriate.

Pupils should also be reminded that they are not permitted to film on school premises without prior permission of the school.

Thank you for your co-operation in this matter and let’s work together to keep our children and young people safe online.

Yours sincerely,

Sarah Morgan, Chief Education Officer

Please see below information from Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, who have launched a new website for young people, parents / carers and families to access health care information from local professionals. 

A great new way for young people, expecting parents, and parents to access local health care advice and guidance of choosing how to access care. Please visit: https://abbhealthiertogether.cymru.nhs.uk/