Oaklands School
Building Foundations for Fulfilling Futures
Oaklands School
Building Foundations for Fulfilling Futures
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Latest News
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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Advice regarding unauthorised leave from school
Tue 07 May 2024Tuesday 7th May 2024
Advice regarding unauthorised leave from school
Dear Parents/Carers,
I am writing to inform you that from the 19 August 2024, new regulations come into force regarding unauthorised leave of absence from school. The changes have come after almost 400,000 penalty notices were issued to parents in England in 2022-23 for unauthorised school absences - which is much higher than pre-pandemic levels.
The Dfe are trying to improve consistency across England by introducing a new National Threshold at which a penalty notice would be considered. The Dfe aim is to improve the deterrent of penalty notices by increasing the amount. A fine must be considered if a child misses five days of school for unauthorised absence.
The following information comes from the Dfe advice and the local authority:
For unauthorised absence from August 2024, Penalty Notices will increase to £160 per parent per child (discounted to £80 if paid within 21 days). If there is occasion to issue a second Penalty Notice for unauthorised leave of absence within a rolling 3 year period, it will be issued at the higher rate of £160 per parent per child, with no opportunity to pay at the lower level. A Penalty Notice cannot be issued if there is a third occasion of unauthorised leave of absence in the rolling 3 year period and it is highly likely that the local authority will take direct prosecution action in the Magistrates’ Court which can result in you receiving a criminal conviction. Please also be aware that any cases of extended periods of unauthorised absence, linked to holidays or trips away, are highly likely to result in prosecution action by the local authority.
If your child has unauthorised leave of absence prior to the end of the summer term in 2024 and a penalty notice is deemed necessary, there will be a Penalty Notice of £120 per parent per child (discounted to £60 if paid within 21 days), or, your case will be referred by the Local Authority directly to the Magistrates’ Court.
Schools consider on a case by case basis whether to issue a penalty notice. Our priority at Oaklands School is always to work with parents/carers and support families to improve attendance. Every moment in school counts and we know that days missed add up quickly. Evidence shows that pupils who have good attendance enjoy better wellbeing and school performance than those who don't.
There are only a few circumstances where a child is allowed to miss school, such as illness, hospital appointments, or where the school has given permission because of an exceptional circumstance. An exceptional circumstance does not include taking holidays in term time due to a child’s needs; family holidays must always be taken in the school holidays. If you are unsure about whether an absence will be authorised, please do call the office and ask to speak with me or our attendance officer, Sally Bott.
Further information about the changes to penalty notices can be found here: Fines for parents for taking children out of school: What you need to know – The Education Hub (blog.gov.uk)
Regards
Sarah Osborne (Headteacher)
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National Crime Agency Information to Parents/Carers
Tue 30 Apr 2024Wednesday 1st May 2024
Dear Parent/Carer,
All schools in the UK have recently been sent information from the National Crime Agency, raising awareness of the recent rise in reporting of financially motivated sexual extortion (a type of online blackmail often known in the media as ‘sextortion’). Children and young people worldwide are being targeted.
This type of crime involves an adult offender (often from an organised crime group based overseas) threatening to release nude or semi-nude images and/or videos of a child or young person, unless they pay money, or meet another financial demand, such as purchasing a pre-paid gift card.
Victims of any age and gender can be targets, however a large proportion of cases have involved male victims aged 14-18.
A child or young person is never to blame if they have been a victim. Offenders will have tricked, groomed and/or manipulated them into sharing an image.
Find out more about online blackmail on CEOP Education’s parents and carers website.
Talking to your child
It’s important to have frequent, open and non-judgemental conversations with your child about relationships, sex and being online to build trust and support them if something goes wrong. Financially motivated sexual extortion should be included in those conversations. Here are some tips about how to approach this:
· Chat regularly about their life online: have ongoing conversations with them about their life and time online. Continue to take an interest as they grow, explore new apps and sites together and talk in a balanced way, considering the benefits and the potential harms.
· Talk about where to find information about relationships and sex: organisations like CEOP Education, Childline and Brook have advice topics such as sexual communication and image sharing. This will help your child to understand what unhealthy relationships look like, such as applying pressure and blackmail; and give them trusted sources of information to explore these topics. Protecting the public from serious and organised crime
· Review privacy settings: talk to your child about the importance of using privacy settings on their accounts to restrict who can contact them. Read CEOP Education’s advice on how to talk your child about their privacy settings.
· Make sure they know where to go for support: let them know that they can come to you with any concerns and won’t be judged. It’s also important to make them aware of other trusted adults or sources of support, if they feel they can’t talk to you, such as Childline.
· Make sure they know where to report: remind your child how you can help them to report an incident to the police or using the CEOP Safety Centre. Let them know that if a nude or semi-nude of them has been shared without their consent, they can take these 3 steps to try and get them removed:
1. Use Report Remove, a tool from Childline and the Internet Watch Foundation. Your child can use this to remove images that have been shared or might be shared.
2. Use Take It Down, a tool from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Your child can use this to remove or stop the online sharing of images or videos.
3. Report directly to the platform or app that the incident has occurred on. For advice on how to report to major social media platforms, visit Internet Matters.
To learn more about what resources are available to help you support your child, visit the UK Safer Internet Centre.
What can I do if this has happened to my child?
If your child tells you that someone is trying to trick, threaten or blackmail them online:
· Don’t pay, do stop contact and block: you may be tempted to pay, but there is no guarantee that this will stop the threats. As the offender’s motive is to get money, once you have shown you can pay, they will likely ask for more and blackmail may continue. If you have paid, don’t panic but don’t pay anything more. Help your child to stop all communication with the offender and block them on any accounts that they have been contacted on.
· Avoid deleting anything: try not to delete anything that could be used as evidence such as messages, images and bank account details. Protecting the public from serious and organised crime
· Report to the police or CEOP: call 101 or 999 if there is an immediate risk of harm to your child. Or you can use the CEOP Safety Centre to report any online blackmail attempts.
If it has already happened and your child has shared an image and sent money to someone exploiting them:
· Reassure them that they’ve done the right thing by telling you: make sure they know they are not to blame for what has happened and they have done the right thing to ask for your help. Children and young people’s mental health may be negatively impacted by experiences of exploitation; you can find advice on looking after your child’s mental health from the NHS.
· Report to the police or CEOP: call 101 or 999 if there is an immediate risk of harm to your child. Or you can use the CEOP Safety Centre to report an incident. If your child is 18 and over, call 101 or 999 if they are at risk of immediate harm.
· Report any images or videos that have been shared: help your child to remove images that are online or prevent images being shared online by following these three steps:
- Use Report Remove, a tool from Childline and the Internet Watch Foundation. Your child can use this to remove images that have been shared or might be shared.
- Use Take It Down, a tool from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Your child can use this to remove or stop the online sharing of images or videos.
3. Report directly to the platform or app that the incident has occurred on. For advice on how to report to major social media platforms, visit Internet Matters
Further information about Internet Safety can be found on our website. If you need any advice, please do not hesitate to call the school so you can speak to one of our Safeguarding team.
Regards
Sarah Osborne (Headteacher)
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Attention Autism Lending Library
Fri 12 Apr 2024After attending some great training we have developed an Attention Autism Lending Library so that staff and pupils can make the most of these sessions
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Bike Park
Fri 12 Apr 2024We are thrilled that our bike park is complete and that the pupils are already having fun exploring the new area and learning new skills
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Autism Acceptance Week
Fri 22 Mar 2024We have had a brilliant week celebrating Autism Acceptance week and have raised a massive £2231!!! which is absolutely incredible. I want to say a massive thank you for all your support.
We have put some photos on the website - click the link below to have a look
https://www.oaklands.leicester.sch.uk/autism-acceptance-week/ -
Developing Communication
Thu 21 Mar 2024We're proud to have an article published on the National Autistic Society website about working with parents & speech & language therapists to develop communication using AAC 😊🧩
Click on the link below to read:
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Oaklands School Ofsted Report
Thu 14 Mar 2024Re: Oaklands School Ofsted Report
Dear Parents/Carers,
I am now delighted to be able to share our Ofsted Report with you following the Inspection visit we had on 13th & 14th February.
This Inspection was an ‘ungraded Inspection’, which means that the purpose of the visit was to determine whether the school remains ‘Good’. As you will read, Inspectors found that ‘Pupils flourish at Oaklands’, that we have ‘highly trained and skilled staff’ who work ‘highly effectively’ and that ‘the curriculum is highly personalised to pupils’ needs’. The full report can be found on our website here. We are extremely pleased with all of the comments in the Report and I am so proud that it reflects the continuous hard work of our whole staff team and Governors. Thank you also to all of you who took the time to complete the parent/carer survey; your feedback was an important part of the Inspection process.
The outcome of the report identifies that if this had been a Graded Inspection (where the grade can be changed) Oaklands School could have received an Outstanding judgement: There has been no change to this school’s overall judgement of good as a result of this ungraded (section 8) inspection. However, the evidence gathered suggests that the inspection grade might be outstanding if a graded (section 5) inspection were carried out now.
The staff team & Governing body are delighted with this Ofsted Report, as a public endorsement of everyone’s dedication, morale and commitment to the pupils and community we serve.
During the Inspection, the Lead HMI Inspector, told us that this was not borderline, that our work in all areas is Outstanding, and she urged us to make sure that we continue to share our exceptional practice with other schools more widely.
As it was an ungraded Inspection, we are now awaiting another visit from Inspectors, which they have said will be in 1 -2 years, for a graded Inspection.
We hope you enjoy reading the report,
Regards
Sarah Osborne (Headteacher)
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The Oaklands Offer!
Thu 07 Mar 2024Coming soon - The Oaklands Offer. An opportunity for parents and carers to find out information about a range of local services and organisations that support pupils with SEND.
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Notification of Ofsted Visit- Info for Parents/Carers
Mon 12 Feb 202412 February 2024
Dear parent or carer
Inspection of Oaklands School by Ofsted
We have just told your child's school that we will inspect it on 13 February 2024. The lead inspector will be Christine Watkins, HMI. We are writing to you because we would like to know what you think about the school. Please take a few minutes to read the leaflet that came with this letter. It explains why we inspect schools and what happens during an inspection.
Your views about the school are important to us
If you are a registered parent or carer of a pupil at the school (including pupils on sick leave or who are temporarily excluded), you can tell us your views about the school by completing Ofsted's online survey, Ofsted Parent View, at: https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk.
Ofsted Parent View asks for your opinion on some aspects of your child's school, including the progress made by your child, the quality of teaching, how the school deals with bullying and poor behaviour. It also provides a free-text box for you to make additional comments, if you wish. The inspectors will use the online survey responses when inspecting your child's school. Written comments can also be sent to the school in a sealed envelope, marked confidential and addressed to the inspection team.
To register your views, you will need to provide your email address, which will be held securely. It will not be used for any purpose other than providing access to the online survey. Neither schools nor Ofsted will have access to any email addresses.
Please complete the online survey by 11am on 13 February 2024 as this will give the inspection team more time to consider your views. However, we will consider all online responses that are completed during the inspection, although the free-text box facility will not be available after noon on 14 February 2024.
Speaking to an inspector
If you are unable to complete the online survey, it may be possible to speak to an inspector during the inspection, for instance at the start of the school day, or to pass on messages to the inspectors if you are unable to speak to them in person. Inspection administrators will be happy to make the necessary arrangements. If concerns are raised about child protection, we may have to pass the information we receive to social services or the police. You can contact the administrators on 03000130701. Inspectors will be pleased to receive your comments, but cannot deal with complaints about individual pupils or settle disputes between you and the school.
Gathering personal information on inspection
Inspectors will gather any personal information necessary to assist them in inspecting a school. Our privacy policy sets out what personal information we collect, what we do with it, how long we keep it and individuals' rights under data protection legislation. The contact details for Ofsted's Data Protection Officer are: Email - informationrequest@ofsted.gov.uk; Post - Information management team, Ofsted, 2 Rivergate, Temple Quay, Bristol, BS1 6EH.
Thank you in advance for taking the time to complete the online survey.
Yours faithfully
Corinne Dakin
Inspection support administrator
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The accompanying booklet can be found here:
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Signs of the Week
Mon 05 Feb 2024The signs of the week are Hello and Goodbye. To see them modelled in different languages go to our YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMCtak2VtgQTOwzNn8WDQPA
