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:
13. Adel Primary School
This is a local authority-maintained primary school in the Adel area, another above average performer with about 241 pupils. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an overall absence rate of 3.4%. | Google
14. St Francis of Assisi Catholic Primary School
St Francis of Assisi is a Catholic primary academy in the Beeston Hill area, with about 233 pupils. In the 2023/24 school year, it also had an overall absence rate of 3.4%. | Google
15. St Philip's Catholic Primary School
St Philip’s is a local authority-maintained Catholic primary school in the Middleton area. It has a roll size of about 236, and a very high proportion of pupils meeting expected standards in reading, writing and maths. In the 2023/24 school year, it once again had an overall absence rate of 3.4%. | Google
16. Westbrook Lane Primary School
Rounding out the list as the last Leeds area primary school with an absence rate below 3.5% is Westbrook Lane, a local authority-maintained primary school in Horsforth. It has about 207 pupils, and is an above average academic performer. In the 2023/24 school year, it too had an overall absence rate of 3.4%. | Google