Parent Letter January 2025

10th January 2025 

Dear parents and carers, 

I would like to wish you a Happy New Year from everyone at #TeamHavelock as we reach the end of a busy first week of the new term. 

Having spent much of this week visiting students in lessons, it has been a pleasure to see a strong focus on learning across the different year groups.  Our Year 11 and 13 students are approaching their final examinations this summer and the atmosphere in their lessons so far has been excellent. If you have children in these year groups, please do encourage them to continue pushing themselves and attending all extra sessions, as well as using the revision resources signposted on our website at home.  August will soon be upon us, and we are hoping to see our best results yet from these two year groups.  

We have made some slight adjustments to our Behaviour and Ethos Policy Appendix which can be found under “Policies” on our website (along with all of our academy and trust policies): Havelock Academy - Policies . 

I would like to draw your attention to section 16 of the DRET Behaviour & Ethos Policy which refers to Internal Truancy. This has become more of an issue nationally in recent years, so we have included specific wording around this in our Behaviour and Ethos Policy Appendix.  When students are in school, they are expected to be in lessons.  Where this is not the case due to defiance and a refusal to attend the timetabled lesson, sanctions will be applied accordingly as per our policy and appendix.  Where this is persistent, sanctions will include fixed term suspension and it could ultimately result in permanent exclusion if the situation does not improve.  When students are not in lessons during timetabled lesson times, we cannot account for their safety. In addition, their behaviour may cause disruption to the running of the academy, including disrupting the learning of others and therefore appropriate sanctions have to be applied to protect the learning of others in the academy.  

Thank you for supporting us in ensuring you child is clear with regards to the expectations above.  Where a student truants internally, the attendance code is classed as an absence as they are not in attendance at the correct lesson and often unaccounted for.  This impacts on student attendance and can result in a fixed penalty notice, just as is the case for other persistent absences from school. Fining families for low attendance is a last resort after exhausting other strategies but ultimately, we have to do so, in line with government guidance. 

To ensure strong communication between home and school, I have included key email addresses below.  Please ensure the academy has your up to date telephone number and email address and ensure you have the academy communication app, MCAS.  If you need help with MCAS then please contact our front reception team who will be happy to set this up for you or answer any questions about it. 

Very best wishes, 

Emma Marshall 
Principal