Absence from school

Parents are required to call in to the main office to inform us of any school absences and medical evidence should be provided for any absences relating to illness.

Please make contact with the school on the first morning of a child’s absence, either by phone or in a note/email sent with another parent (please bear in mind that the children
often forget to tell us or pass on messages!) It is school policy to contact parents if we have not been notified of an absence. If there are any barriers to your child/children attending school fully, please speak to Kamla or another member of the Senior Leadership Team, so we can try to help.

Children who are absent for more than 20 days in total during the school year or children whose attendance is erratic or giving us cause for concern will be referred to the Local Authority for further action.
All appointments should be made for out side of school hours, to minimise the disruption, although we appreciate at times, health services may allocate an appoint beyond your control.

Please see attached leaflet for further information about how attendance works at Oliver Goldsmith School.
Attendance leaflet

We are hosting a listening campaign to engage with
our school community to find out what your views are on the identify concerns and priorities about the area, and where more support is needed.

Elusive Opportunities flyer

If you are a Black parent in Southwark and would like to get involved in a community initiative, please click on the link to find out more.

We as a school community are aware that there is an acute shortage of housing, particularly social and genuinely affordable housing and that this has led to spiraling rents and house prices across the country. Many young people and families on low to middle incomes struggle to afford to rent or buy a decent home.  As a result we will be holding a coffee morning Q & A session, with a housing representative, on Monday 27th March 2023 at the school. If you would like to attend please let Kamla or the school office know, so your place can be reserved.

Although this holiday has commonly been called “Chinese New Year” in the West, China is not the only country to observe it. Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is the most celebrated and longest of all Asian festivals, and is observed by millions of people around the world.

The traditional Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, which means that it is based on astronomical observations of the Sun’s position in the sky and the Moon’s phases. This ancient calendar dates back to 14th century BCE (whereas the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582). The Chinese lunisolar calendar shares some similarities with the Hebrew calendar, which is also lunisolar, and it has influenced other East Asian calendars, such as those of Korea and Vietnam.

As with many winter solstice celebrations, the symbolic darkness of night is banished by the light of fireworks, lanterns, and candles. Man-made paper lanterns are hung by the hundreds in public areas, bringing good luck to the new year.

There are dragon dances, performances, and festival parades with music and acrobatics. The festivities continue for two weeks, finishing with a special lantern festival, which signals the end of the New Year celebration period.

The OGPS PTA will be selling Lucky Red Envelopes on Friday 27th Jan 2023, to celebrate Chinese New Year 2023.

Each envelope will have a wise proverb and a chocolate coin and 4 lucky envelopes will have £5 inside!! Each Envelope will be 50p – so try your luck and see if you get lucky!!