Attendance at St Catherine’s Primary School

At St Catherine’s, we want every child to have the best possible chance to learn, grow and succeed. Good attendance is essential for this, and even small amounts of missed school quickly add up. Attendance affects not only academic progress but also friendships, wellbeing and confidence.

What Is “Good Attendance”?

The Department for Education defines good attendance as above 95%.
This means attendance below 95% is not good attendance, as it represents a noticeable amount of missed learning.

Importantly, attendance below 90% is classed as persistent absence, and this has a significant impact on children’s progress. Sometimes persistent absence is caused by a combination of different issues — illness, broken weeks, holidays, tiredness, or family circumstances. Whatever the reason, we are committed to working alongside families to understand what is happening and support you in improving your child’s attendance so they can thrive.

Attendance as Days Missed

Children attend school for 190 days a year, with 5 lessons per day — a total of 950 lessons annually.

Here is what different attendance levels really mean:

Why this matters

• 95% attendance still means almost two full weeks of school missed.
• 90% equals almost four weeks missed – a whole month of learning gone.
• 85% means half a term missed.
• 80% is the equivalent of a full term out of school.

Even when absences are spread out, they interrupt teaching sequences, guided practice, and the continuity children need to make steady progress.

The Impact of Missed Days

Missing school affects more than just academic work:

1. Learning Gaps

Children miss explanations, group activities and essential practice. Over time these gaps widen.

2. Slower Progress

Regular absence often results in slower progress in reading, writing, maths and wider curriculum subjects.

3. Social and Emotional Effects

Absence affects friendships, confidence, and a child’s sense of belonging.

4. Broken Routines

Frequent broken weeks or days off make settling back into routines more difficult.

5. Lateness Counts Too

Regular lateness equals lost learning and unsettled starts to the day.

Four Main Barriers to Good Attendance

Our school review has identified four key causes of lower attendance:

1. Unauthorised Term‑Time Holidays

These cannot be authorised and have a significant impact on learning and routines.

2. Illness and Medical Absence

Children do get unwell, but repeated illness or illness combined with other absence affects progress.

3. Broken Weeks

Odd days off across many weeks quickly add up to large amounts of missed learning.

4. Lateness

Late arrivals count as partial absences and lead to lost learning time.

How We Support Families

We look at attendance over time, not just one term in isolation.
For example:

• A child with a single absence this term but strong attendance last year may not be a concern.
• A child below 95% this year and last year needs closer support.
• A child below 90% is persistently absent, and we will work with families to understand what is happening and support improvements.

In these cases, Mrs King may be in touch to discuss how we can help.

Our Commitment

We are proud of our strong attendance culture and grateful for families who support it every day.
If your child’s attendance drops or becomes a concern, we will work with you, not against you, to improve it. Together we can ensure every child feels confident, makes progress and enjoys their learning.

If you ever need support around attendance, please contact us — we’re here to help.

Sickness

All children will inevitably have some time off school due to one illness or another.  When your child is ill or is going to be late please telephone school as soon as possible.

Below is a list of common ailments and the accepted periods of exclusion from school. For any other diseases or medical conditions the Headteacher or your Family doctor will be able to advise.

If your child is taken ill whilst at school or is involved in an accident, we will get in touch with you, or the emergency contact as indicated on your pupil's record.

It is important that contact details for your child are kept up to date, so please inform the school immediately of any changes of telephone numbers or emergency contacts etc.

To report a pupil absence phone the school office on 01772 423767 and leave your child's name, class and reason for absence.