Dear Parent/Guardian

I am writing with some very important information.

Safety is of paramount importance at St Ambrose Barlow and you will have noticed that over the Easter holidays we have had electric gates installed at both the main entrance and the music block entrance further up Shaftesbury Road.

The gates will be closed from 8.40 a.m. every day. If your child is late for school, they must enter by the main gates where reception staff will open the pedestrian entry gate. If you need to visit school during the day, please use the buzzer to gain entry.

As you know, before Easter we operated a ‘same day’ detention for pupils arriving late for school. This worked extremely well with hardly any instances of lateness in the week prior to Easter. However, we have now returned to school and lateness is again deteriorating.

May I remind parents that pupils MUST be on the premises when the bell rings at 8.45 a.m. otherwise they will be marked late.

Late detention rota will return to normal for the time being (e.g. if pupils are late twice in one week, they will receive a detention the following Thursday). However, we will monitor the situation and if necessary, re-instigate same day detention should punctuality deteriorate further.

Parents were very supportive of our efforts to halt late arrival to school and I would like to thank you for your continued support of the school’s effort to improve punctuality.

Mrs C M Garside

Headteacher