Many Derbyshire primary schools that rank as above average when it comes to teaching their pupils valuable school skills also excel in another measure - encouraging strong attendance.
The same can not necessarily be said nationwide. 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 in England - 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.
A recent Department for Education report has shown just how much this really matters - even for primary-aged pupils. Those 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%.
As the end of another school year looms, we’ve taken a look at how schools in the Derbyshire County Council area did. We then used this data to create a league table of the county’s state-funded schools with overall absence rates below 3.5% - an outstanding achievement for any school community. Naturally, this gave many of Derbyshire’s village schools with fewer pupils in general the chance to shine - although some with roll sizes in the hundreds made the list too.
Here were the 12 local schools that came out on top:
5. Biggin CofE Primary School
This is another local authority-maintained Anglican primary school, in the village of Biggin. It is a very small local school, with just 15 pupils, and its results suppressed due to its size. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an overall absence rate of 3.1%. | Google
6. William Gilbert Endowed Church of England Primary School
William Gilbert is an Anglican primary academy in Duffield, a larger school with about 250 pupils. It had a higher proportion of pupils meet the Government’s expected standards in reading, writing, and maths than both the Derbyshire and national averages. In the 2023/24 school year, it also had an overall absence rate of 3.1%. | Google
7. All Saints CofE Junior School
All Saints is an Anglican primary academy in Upper Hackney. It has about 223 pupils, and is another high academic achiever. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an overall absence rate of 3.2%. | Google
8. Lea Primary School
This is a local authority-maintained primary school between Lea and Holloway, near Matlock, with a roll size of about 127. In the 2023/24 school year, it also had an overall absence rate of 3.2%. | Google