Here at St Mary's we believe that attendance at school is vital not only for a child's ability to learn and achieve, but also for the social skills they learn interacting with their peers and adults; for learning habits that will last into later life and for equipping them to compete in employment and the working world.  Research also shows the positive impact that good school attendance has on the academic achievement of  pupils.

We expect all children to attend every day on time, unless there are exceptional circumstances such as illness.  As a school we do all we can to encourage the children to attend and to put in place appropriate procedures.  Every effort should be made to arrange medical appointments outside school hours. 

Attending school every day 

(100% attendance)

Attending 4½ days a week 

(90% attendance)   = 4 weeks missed per year

Attending 4 days a week   

(80% attendance) = more than half a term missed per year or

2 full years missed over the course of their school career

Attending 3½ days a week  

(70% attendance) = more than a quarter of the school year missed

Being late for school = reduced learning time. 

If your child is 5 minutes late every day they will miss 3 days of learning each year. 

If your child is 15 minutes late every day they will miss 2 weeks of learning each year.

The world is run by those who turn up ……

Make every minute count!