Whether it be due to illnesses, unauthorised term-time holidays, or any other reason, missing too much classtime can interfere with primary schools’ core mission - teaching their pupils essential school skills.
A recent Department for Education report found that attendance has close ties to pupil attainment, even in the early primary school days. It found that pupils who attended school nearly every day in Year 6 were 1.3 times more likely to meet the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths compared to pupils who only attended 90-95% of the time. This means missing just 10 days of school cuts down their chances by around 25%.
Yet England’s overall school attendance rates still leave much to be desired. The Government’s latest full absence and attendance figures, covering the full 2023/24 school year show that the overall absence rate - the percentage of half-days missed for all pupils - still lingers well above pre-pandemic figures. One in five pupils were also labelled ‘persistently absent’, meaning they missed at least 10% of these half-day sessions.
As well as looking at how schools across the country fared, we’ve also taken a deep dive into attendance rates for state primary schools in the Northumberland County Council area. Using this data, we’ve created a league table celebrating the primaries - and first schools - that have managed to keep their overall absence rates at 4% or lower - an incredible achievement for any school community.
Naturally in a county like Northumberland, many of the schools that really excelled were smaller village and community schools with fewer pupils. However, some larger town schools in centres like Prudhoe and Ponteland have also excelled in this measure.
Here were the 18 local schools that made the list:
1. Greenhaugh Primary School
At the top of the list is this small local authority-maintained primary school in the village of Greenhaugh, near Bellingham. It only has about 14 pupils on its roll. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a low overall absence rate of just 1.8%. | Google
2. Lowick Church of England Voluntary Controlled First School
Another village school, this is a local authority-maintained Anglican first school in Lowick. It takes pupils from the ages of 2 to 9, and has a roll size of about 36. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an overall absence rate of 2%. | Google
3. Cambo First School
This is a local authority-maintained first school in the village of Cambo, near Morpeth. It takes pupils from the ages of 4 to 9, and has a roll size of about 42. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an overall absence rate of 2.8%. | Google
4. Shaftoe Trust Academy
Shaftoe is a primary academy in Haydon Bridge, with a roll size of about 108 pupils. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an overall absence rate of 3.3%. | Google