Dear Parents, Carers and Students,

Reminder: Year 7 Pastoral Evening - 23rd September 2026
Further to the letter sent earlier this week, a reminder that the above event will take place from 5.30pm to 7.15pm. Thank you to those parents/ carers who have already confirmed attendance via the link in the letter. At Townley, our pastoral events are an essential part of the school calendar and we would hope that all year 7 parents/ carers attend in order to ensure we are working collaboratively to support the educational experience of every child. Please note that key members of the Lower School leadership team will be present.
Please click the link to confirm your attendance here.

Important: Attendance
There is wide agreement among health and educational professionals that school attendance is vital to the life chances of children and young people. Being in school improves their health, wellbeing, and socialisation throughout the life course. To gain the greatest benefits, it is essential that children and young people attend school regularly.

We understand that making the decision to keep your child at home is difficult. To ensure we accurately record attendance under DfE guidelines and provide appropriate safeguarding, we require a clear reason for illness when reporting an absence. To authorise an absence, please provide a specific symptom (e.g., "high temperature," "vomiting," or "severe sore throat") that prevents your child from attending school. Unfortunately, simply stating your child is "unwell" is not sufficient for an absence to be formally authorised. Please ensure that you update us on each day of your child's absence using the school reporting procedures.

As a general guideline, it is usually appropriate for parents and carers to send children to school with mild respiratory illnesses. This includes general cold symptoms like a minor cough, runny nose, or sore throat. However, children should not be sent to school if they have a temperature of 38°C or above.

We strongly encourage you to utilise the NHS guidance 'Is My Child too Ill for School?'

Parking around the school
A polite reminder to all car users to please drive carefully when in the vicinity of the school, paying attention to road markings and parking restrictions at all times, to ensure the safety of our students and other pedestrians. Please do not drive on to the school site to drop off your child or block any access to the school car parks which causes congestion on to Townley Road. If parents/ carers must drive their child to school, we ask that you drop them away from the school site and allow them to walk in.

We would also ask that you kindly refrain from parking across the driveways of our neighbours, on the pavements or at busy junctions which is dangerous for all road users and pedestrians. Please drive safely at all times and park with courtesy to local residents in surrounding roads.

Thank you for your continued support with this.

Reminder: Years 7 – 11 Flu Vaccinations – Friday 25th September 2026
The Bexley Immunisation Team will be in school on Friday 25th September to administer this year’s flu vaccine – please read the attached parent/carer letter carefully. Please complete the consent form via the link in the letter, even if you do not want your child to have it in school.

Please inform the school on the day if you child is unwell, has had any recent changes to their asthma medication or has any other medical updates as this information must be passed to the lead nurse before the session begins. For more information, please see the attached letter and visit the NHS website here.

Term dates for 2027-2028
Please find attached a copy of the term dates for 2027-2028 which have been updated.

Kind regards

Miss Mitchem

Deputy Headteacher