St Mary's aims to encourage children, parents and carers to achieve the best possible levels of attendance in order to take full advantage of the learning experiences available to them.  

The school offers an environment in which children feel welcomed and valued.  Through the ethos of our school children will be aware that their presence in school is important and they will be missed if they are absent or late.

Good attendance at school is vital for pupils to achieve their full educational potential. Pupils with good attendance records benefit in the following ways:

• Continuity of learning which makes progress and retention easier
• Enhanced performance in SATs tests
• Continuity of relationships and friendships
• Good references for further education or employment
• Good habits are formed for later life

• Research shows that attendance has a direct impact on GCSE results.  If a pupil's attendance is less than 50% throughout their school life they are less likely to succeed in their GCSE exams. In fact, only 3% of these pupils do.        
• For pupils who miss between 10%-20% of school, only 35% manage to succeed in their GCSE exams. 
• However for pupils who attend at least 95% of the time, 73% achieve above the national benchmark for GCSEs including in English and maths. 

The DfE defines Persistent Absentees as school-age pupils missing more than 10% of sessions in a school year.

For more information please request a copy of our School's Attendance Policy.