Families rely on primary schools to help children master basic skills they’ll need for the rest of their lives.
But a recent Department for Education report found that absences add up, when it comes to how well young learners really grasp them. 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 their chances by around 25%.
The country’s national attendance rates show definite room for improvement. The Government’s latest absence and attendance figures, covering the full 2023/24 school year, show that the 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.
With more than 250 primary schools in the Leeds City Council area alone, we’ve taken a deep dive into their absences over the past academic year, where children missed classtime for any reason. We’ve created a league table of the city’s state-funded schools with overall absence rates below 3.5% - an outstanding achievement for any school community.
Here are the 16 local schools that met the mark:
1. St Peter's Church of England Primary School, Leeds
At the top of the list is St Peter’s, an Anglican primary academy in the Quarry Hill area with about 257 pupils. It has a notably higher percentage of its pupils meeting the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths than both the local and national average. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a low overall absence rate of just 1.8%. | Google
2. Beecroft Primary School
Beecroft is a local authority-maintained primary school in the Kirkstall area, with a roll size of about 330 pupils. It too is an academic high achiever, with a higher-than-average proportion of its pupils meeting the expected standards in reading, writing and maths. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an overall absence rate of 2.4%. | Google
3. Holy Family Catholic Primary School
Holy Family is a local authority-maintained Catholic primary school in the Armley area. It has about 245 pupils, and a higher proportion meeting expected standards in reading, writing and maths than both the local and national averages. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an overall absence rate of 2.5%. | Google
4. Crossley Street Primary School
Crossley Street is a local authority-maintained primary school in Wetherby. It has about 232 pupils, and is once again an above average academic performer. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an overall absence rate of 2.9%. | Google
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5. Moortown Primary School
This is a local authority-maintained primary school in the Moortown area, with a roll size of 211. It had a much higher proportion of its pupils meet the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing and maths than both the local and national averages last year. In the 2023/24 school year, it also had an overall absence rate of 2.9%. | Steve Riding/National World
6. Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School
Corpus Christi is a local authority-maintained Catholic primary school in the Halton Moore area. It has a roll size of about 264, and once again, a notably higher-than-average amount of pupils meeting Government standards. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an overall absence rate of 3.1%. | Google