At Northern Primary School, we take a positive and proactive approach towards school attendance, because we know that children that attend school regularly are more likely to achieve well, and have more opportunities to socialise and experience the wider opportunities on offer. 

We expect your child to attend school almost every day. This means their attendance should be above 95%. Although attendance of 94%, for example, may sound positive, that is actually 11 school days a year of absence. That is a lot of learning and a lot of social time missed! The documents listed below explain further about attendance percentages.

If your child's attendance is begins to decrease, or is frequently late, we will let you know so that you are aware of the impact that their absence is having. Our approach is supportive - whatever barrier you or your child is facing to having good attendance, we will work with you to find a solution. This could be, for example, support for emotional-based school avoidance, signposting to breakfast club or organising a meet-and-greet. Our support could also involve outside agencies where appropriate.  

We aim to work proactively to prevent any child from becoming a persistent absentee - that is where attendance is less than 90%. If a child becomes a persistent absentee, school works closely with the Local Authority to address this and may eventually seek court action – parents/carers have a legal duty to make sure their children attend school.

For more information on our approach to attendance, please read our documents below, and our attendance policy, which can be found on the policies page here.