Attendance
The impact of 90% attendance is 19 missed days.
When a student misses school, it can affect not only their learning but also their friendships, confidence and overall wellbeing. Working closely with parents and carers is therefore crucial, and we greatly appreciate the support our families provide in helping every young person attend school regularly and thrive.
To get the most from their education, children need to be in school consistently. We are committed to promoting positive attendance and contacting families when concerns arise. Parents and carers have a legal duty to ensure their children attend school regularly, and where attendance issues persist, formal attendance procedures may need to be followed.
Why Is Attendance Important?
There is a strong and well-established link between attendance and achievement. When a child does not attend school regularly, they miss valuable learning opportunities, making it more difficult to achieve their full potential and secure the qualifications that will support future education, training and employment.
School is about much more than academic learning. It is also where young people develop the social, communication and workplace skills that are essential for adult life. These skills are built through regular participation, shared experiences and daily interaction with others.
This is why we place such importance on attendance. As a school, we have a responsibility to promote regular attendance, follow up absences and champion the value of education. It is no coincidence that our examination results are consistently above national averages and that our attendance rates are also significantly higher than those seen nationally.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a noticeable shift in attendance expectations among some families. Unfortunately, it is often the children with lower levels of attendance who experience the greatest disadvantage, leaving school with poorer outcomes than their peers.
The impact of attendance on outcomes was particularly evident in Summer 2025, when we observed the following results:
| Attendance | Impact |
| 96% or Above | Each student gained 1.3 grades above their expected grade in each subject on average. Almost 90% of these students made better progress than their peers nationally. |
| 90-95% | Each student gained 1 whole grade above their expected grade in each subject on average. About 80% of these students made better progress than their peers nationally. |
| 89% or Below | Each student gained no extra grades above their expected grade in each subject on average. Nearly half of these students made less progress than their peers nationally. |
This trend is consistent with the outcomes recorded in both 2023 and 2024.
While some absence due to illness is inevitable and entirely understandable, it is important to remember that missed days can soon add up. Developing a habit of regular attendance is important not only for success at school but also for preparing young people for the expectations of adult life.
Every lesson missed represents a lost opportunity to learn, and this can have a cumulative effect on achievement. In turn, lower qualifications can reduce access to competitive jobs, apprenticeships, and sought-after Further and Higher Education pathways.
What Is Good Attendance?
At first glance, 90% attendance may look good. But in reality, over an academic year, it isn't.
90% attendance is only superficially good.
Another way of thinking about 90% attendance is that this means a 10% absence rate.
A student with 10% absence has the equivalent of a half-day off every week. It isn't difficult to imagine how a boss would react if one of their employees took this time off each week.
A student with 10% absence misses 19 school days over a year - that's nearly 4 weeks of school.
That's also 114 lessons missed. Suddenly, 90% attendance doesn't look so good.
Addressing Absence
The school has worked with the highly-renowned
Education Endowment Fund on attendance.
As a school, we have a clear process for working with parents and carers when concerns about a child's attendance begin to emerge. This may include telephone calls, letters and meetings, all aimed at supporting improved attendance.
It is important for families to recognise that this process reflects our commitment to prioritising education and ensure that every child receives the opportunities they deserve. It should not be viewed as criticism. We value working in partnership with parents and carers, and whilst we will always listen, our responsibility is to secure regular school attendance for every student.
As attendance matters can become part of a legal process, schools are required to follow specific procedures, even where absences may appear unavoidable. This includes making contact with families and issuing statutory correspondence where necessary. Following these processes ensures fairness, maintains clear records and enables appropriate support or intervention should attendance concerns continue.
Where attendance does not improve, the Local Education Authority may become involved. In some cases, this can lead to formal statutory action. Staffordshire County Council's stance is:
"Regular and punctual attendance at school is both a legal requirement and essential for pupils to maximise their educational opportunities. In recognition of this, the law makes it an offence for a parent or carer to fail to secure the regular attendance of their child at a school at which the child is a registered pupil, without good reason or the agreement of the school."
More information, including the thresholds for Penalty Notices, can be found here.
We follow the local authority’s referral guidance. Decisions regarding prosecution are made solely by the Local Education Authority, acting independently as the prosecuting body. Ultimately, neither the school nor the local authority want to see legal action taken, but the law entitles every child of compulsory school age to a suitable full-time education.
Supporting Attendance
We support Staffordshire County Council’s attendance campaign called I’m Here.
Working with Staffordshire students, SCC co-produced two short, powerful campaign videos which capture their voices and experiences.
Watch the videos here:
• Facebook
• Instagram
• TikTok
• YouTube
A campaign webpage has also been developed for parents, carers and students, offering advice on mental health and links to local support.
You can find this at: www.staffordshire.gov.uk/imhere
Young people often say that the biggest factor that helps them attend school is having a trusted relationship with a teacher or member of staff – something our form tutors, House system and Support model are passionately focused on. Elsewhere, the school has worked with the highly-renowned Education Endowment Fund on research into the BITUP attendance intervention, and continues to work towards our Wellbeing Award, as developed by National Children’s Bureau.Reporting Absences
If your child is too unwell to attend school, please call the Pupil Absence Line (01543 267 467) each morning that your child is absent. You can also inform us via email on: attendance@friaryschool.co.uk.
It is important you give clear details: your child’s name, tutor group and reason for their absence. Medical evidence may be requested for 3 days or more consecutive absence.
You can also report an absence via EduLink by following the instructions on the attendance button.
Requesting Leave of Absence
Parents or carers should complete a Leave of Absence Request Form and submit this to the Headteacher at least two weeks prior to the intended leave of absence. School will respond to the request within one week.
Only in exceptional circumstances will leave be granted and it cannot be formally granted for any term-time holidays.
Attendance Advice
If you need any advice relating to attendance, your key points of contact are:
- Ria Campion – Attendance Officer – rcampion@friaryschool.co.uk
- The relevant House staff.
Attendance Documents
The following documents may help you to understand and work with our school on attendance:
Attendance Policy Attendance Leaflet Leave of Absence Request Form
Further Information
If you have any further queries about attendance, then please contact Lottie Hearn, Deputy Headteacher, via office@friaryschool.co.uk.