Attendance

Regular attendance at school promotes pupils’ wellbeing and gives them the best chance of learning and reaching their potential. Pupils should attend school every day the school is open unless the reason for the absence is unavoidable.

Good attendance is important because pupils:

make more progress academically and socially;
cope better with school routines, work and friendships;
find learning easier because they do not miss out;
feel more confident;
are more successful moving between primary school, secondary school, higher education and employment or training;
are known to be safe and well by us.

Research shows a direct link between high attendance and educational outcomes

Pupils who did not achieve the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at the end of Key Stage Two in 2019 had an overall attendance of 95.3% over the key stage. This is compared with 96.5% among pupils who achieved the expected standard and 97.3% among those who achieved the higher standard.
84% of pupils with 100% attendance in KS2 achieved the expected standard compared to 40.2% of pupils who were persistently absent!

These trends are similar to those seen in previous years. We encourage 100% attendance and punctuality for all pupils, and have a minimum expectation of 97%.

Attendance Policies

Our school has a robust and comprehensive attendance policy. To simplify this and give families the key headlines, we have summarised it in a quick read document. You can find both policies below:

Attendance Matters

As part of the Swaledale Alliance working group for attendance, we were collaborators in the production of a system-led attendance information leaflet for families.

Swaledale Alliance Attendance Matters Parent Guide

Term Dates

Leave of Absence Form

School Attendance Data

2021/2022 academic year:

Our overall attendance for the whole school was 94.3%
The overall proportion of persistently absent pupils (with less than 90% attendance) was 16%

2022/2023 academic year:

In autumn term 2022, we were in the top 25% of similar schools in England for attendance. Our week by week attendance is shown below. It is also available to families every week (broken down class by class) on our newsletter.