Primary schools teach children many of the core skills they will need throughout the rest of their educational journey.
But when it comes to mastering them, absences can add up - whether they stem from illnesses, unauthorised term-time holidays, or any other reason.
A recent Department for Education report found that attendance has close ties to pupil attainment all the way through to when they sit their GCSEs. But it also showed that attendance makes a difference to young learners even in their earlier primary school days.
The report said 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 shaves down their chances by around 25%.
Yet England’s overall school attendance rates still leave much to be desired. 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.
Using official data, we’ve taken a look at state-funded primary schools across the country to see which have the lowest rates of pupils missing class for any reason - to create a league table of England’s top primary schools for attendance. We’ve only included schools with an absence rate below 2.5% - an incredible achievement for any school community.
This has allowed many smaller village and community schools with fewer pupils overall to shine. But equally, a number of larger city schools with hundreds of pupils have also made the list.
Here were the 19 schools that met our criteria:
13. Witchampton Church of England First School
This is another Anglican first school, in Witchampton, Dorset. It too takes pupils up until the age of 9, and has about 55 students. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an overall absence rate of 2.3%. | Google
14. Barrowby Church of England Primary School
This is a local authority-maintained Anglican primary school in the village of Barrowby, in Lincolnshire. It has about 238 pupils, and a higher-than-average rate of 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
15. Beecroft Primary School
Beecroft is a local authority-maintained primary school in Leeds, West Yorkshire. It has about 330 pupils, and a higher-than-average rate of pupils meeting the expected standards in reading, writing, and maths. In the 2023/24 school year, it too had an overall absence rate of 2.4%. | Google
16. Boasley Cross Community Primary School
This is a primary academy in the village of Boasley Cross, Devon, with just 38 pupils. In the 2023/24 school year, it again had an overall absence rate of 2.4%. | Google