Attendance & Punctuality Summary Review: 2022/2023 Beware The Storm

ATTENDANCE 22/23: ABOVE ALL COMPARISONS AGAIN - BUT THERE IS A STORM BREWING

  Mr Denton

Not sure how I feel about this year's attendance and punctuality story. Let's start with the great news. Again, Mayfield is above all national and local comparisons which is great news on attendance. This is now three years in a row and that consistent turnaround during my time as headteacher is sustained. Punctuality remains very good and, with very few exceptions, the importance of being here on time every day is a message heard and followed loud and clear. 'Don't Miss A Minute' is indeed the message.

My wider worry is an increasing apathy towards the importance of attending school. I am not merely talking about here but across the country. Figures are down everywhere on almost every measure no matter whereabouts you live in Britain today. It is rightly a national concern and is rightly something that is high profile across the country. I will be honest, for many families it is simply a case of making sure their children attend school and being held to account for this. We can chat all we want to families, but I can tell you from experience that it is often lip service as chronic low attenders often remain that. With this in mind, I am aware that our figures are on a downward trend like everywhere. Overall attendance and most notably the number of children who are persistently absent from school are factors that we will be monitoring on an enhanced level for 2023/2024 and will be trialling some new systems aimed at the persistent absence group.

Here are the final headline figures for the academic year 2022/2023. It reflects the positive above national picture and comparisons, but also that decline over the last two years since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have left the previous summaries on the website for you to gain some comparison and a picture of movement over time. 

National Primary School Pupil Attendance 2022/2023:  94%           Mayfield Primary Pupil Attendance 2022/2023: 94.38%

National (All Schools) Disadvantaged Pupil Attendance 2022/2023: 88.4%       Mayfield Disadvantaged Pupil Attendance 2022/2023: 93.8%

National (All Schools) Non-Disadvantaed Pupil Attendance 2022/2023: 93.8%         Mayfield Non-Disadvantaged Pupil Attendance 2022/2023: 94.7%

National Gap to to Disadvantaged Pupils (All Schools) 2022/2023: -5.2%      Mayfield Gap to Disadvantaged Pupils 2022/2023: -0.9%

National Persistent Absence (Below 90%) Primary Schools 2022/2023: 17.2%     Mayfield Persistent Absence (Below 90%) 2022/2023: 14.9%