Attendance missed and the impact on pupil's learning

In line with the new guidance from the DfE, schools are encouraged to regularly inform parents about their child’s attendance and absence levels. Here is the guidance Working together to improve school attendance (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Schools should avoid headline percentages and instead make this understandable for parents e.g. the amount of time missed and the impact on the pupil’s learning.

Attendance record and lessons missed

• 95% attendance means 50 missed lessons. This means a child missed about 10 days or 2 weeks of lessons in the school year.
• 90% attendance means 100 missed lessons. This means a child misses four weeks of lessons in the school year.
• 85% attendance means 150 missed lessons. This means the child misses almost 6 weeks of lessons in the school year
• 80% attendance means 200 missed lessons. This means the child misses over 7 weeks of lessons in the school year
• 75% attendance means 250 missed lessons. This means the child misses about 9 weeks of lessons in the school year

Punctuality

• Arriving 5 minutes late every day adds up to over 3 days lost each year, that's 20 lessons missed
• Arriving 15 minutes late every day adds up to 2 weeks absence a year, thats 55 lessons missed
• Arriving 30 minutes late every adds up to 19 days absence a year, thats 123 lessons missed

*Please note, these calculations are approximate, based on how the terms fall each calendar year.