From illnesses, to unauthorised term-time holidays, to children slipping through the cracks and going missing from education, many different factors can drive absences up.
But parents and schools which work together to make sure children miss as little class time as possible may be helping to set them up for a lifetime of success.
The Government’s latest absence and attendance figures, covering the full 2023/24 school year show that the country’s overall absence rate - the percentage of half-days missed for all pupils - still lingers well above pre-pandemic figures. One in five pupils were also labelled ‘persistently absent’, meaning they missed at least 10% of these half-day sessions.
This can take its toll on a child’s education, even for younger pupils. A recent Department for Education report found that primary pupils who attended school nearly every day in Year 6 were 1.3 times more likely to meet the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths compared to pupils who only attended 90-95% of the time. This means missing just 10 days of school cuts down their chances by around 25%.
The Doncaster Council area alone has more than 100 primary schools, and to help keep local parents in the loop, we’ve taken a look at the data to find the state-funded schools that managed to keep overall absence rates particularly low. Only schools with absence rates below 4.5% have been included in our league table - including infant and junior schools - a phenomenal achievement for any school community.
Here were the 14 schools that made the cut:
1. St Francis Xavier Catholic Primary School
At the top of the list is St Francis Xavier, a local authority-maintained Catholic primary school in the Balby area. It has a roll size of about 239 pupils. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a low overall absence rate of just 3.3%. | Google
2. Barnby Dun Primary Academy
Next up is this primary academy in Barnby Dun, a village to the northeast of the city. It has about 271 pupils. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an overall absence rate of 3.4%. | Google
3. Crookesbroom Primary Academy
This is a primary academy in the Dunscroft area. It has a roll size of about 227, and one of the highest rates of pupils meeting the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths in the Doncaster area. In the 2023/24 school year, it too had an overall absence rate of 3.4%. | Google
4. Armthorpe Shaw Wood Academy
Shaw Wood is a primary academy in Armthorpe, with about 419 pupils. It also had a higher proportion of them meet expected school skill standards than both the local and national averages. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an overall absence rate of 3.7%. | Google