Attendance

ATTENDANCE MATTERS

Missing a few days of school here and there may not seem a big deal, but research shows that it can have a significant impact on children's learning.

Children who miss a substantial amount of school fall behind their peers, and struggle to catch up.

Most of the work they miss is never made up, which can lead to big gaps in their learning.

Poor attendance often starts at primary school, and children who fall into this pattern are likely to underachieve at secondary school. Pupils who miss between 10 and 20% of school (that’s 19 to 38 days per year) stand only a 35% chance of achieving five or more good GCSEs, compared to 73% of those who miss fewer than 5% of school days.

Friendships can be affected by persistent absence, too: it can be hard for a child who misses lots of school to form relationships with their classmates.

Poor attendance also reflects badly on your child’s school. Ofsted expect all schools to have good attendance rates, and they are marked down in inspections if their absence figures are too high.

In the year 18/19 (pre-covid) Melling Primary school attendance figures were reported as follows:

'Absence for 2018/19 and earlier Overall absence (5.1%) was in the highest 20% of all schools in 2018/19 as well as in 2017/18.

Persistent absence (14.0%) was in the highest 20% of all schools in 2018/19 as well as in 2017/18.

The rates of overall absence (5.1%) and persistent absence (14.0%) in 2018/19 were in the highest 20% of schools with a similar level of deprivation.'

In the school year 22/23 attendance data has been analysed: 

Overall attendance = 94.6% (school target is 97%) 

The number of children classed as Persistent Absentees (ie with under 90% attendance) was 22.

These figures are a serious cause for concern and the Governors, along with Senior Leaders will be looking to improve these figures this year. Please ensure that you read the Attendance Policy. 

Many thanks.