“We are helped to expand our talents – music is so much fun at St. Anthony’s.”

The Importance of Excellent Attendance

Recent research based on extensive pupil absence figures coupled with both GCSE and primary school results suggest a strong link between attendance and pupil achievement, showing that short breaks from school can reduce a child’s chances of success dramatically.

The research highlights that 44% of pupils with no absence in key stage 4 achieve a good pass in the “gold standard” combination of academic subjects known collectively as the English Baccalaureate (EB). These facilitating subjects, including English, Mathematics, Sciences, History or Geography and a language, allow pupils access to the highest number of choices for continuing their education post 16.

However, for pupils who missed just 14 days of school over the two years, this figure drops by over a quarter to just 31.7% achieving the EB. Taken further, for pupils who missed 28 days of school in the two years of key stage 4, only 16.4% managed to achieve the EB standard.

We ask parents to support us by ensuring us that routine medical appointments are taken outside of the school day and that students are taken out of school during term time for holidays.