Every day. On time. Ready to learn.

Launching September 2026

At St Mary’s, we want every child to have the very best possible opportunity to learn, grow and thrive. Regular attendance and good punctuality are an important part of this.

From September 2026, we are launching our new whole-school attendance initiative:

🌟 EVERY DAY COUNTS 🌟

Be here. Be on time. Be ready.

Our aim is simple: to create a positive culture where children understand that coming to school every day they are well, and arriving on time and ready to learn, really matters.

We also want to celebrate and reward the fantastic attendance and punctuality we see across our school every day.

Why Does Attendance Matter?

Every day at school provides opportunities to learn, practise new skills, spend time with friends and take part in the wider life of our school.

Even relatively short periods of absence can quickly add up.

5 days away from school = approximately 25 lessons missed

10 days away from school = approximately 50 lessons missed

Regular absence can make it more difficult for children to keep up with learning and can also affect friendships, routines and confidence.

Being on time matters too. Our learning begins from the moment children enter their classrooms. Regular lateness can mean children miss important instructions, early morning learning and a calm start to their day.

Our message to our children will therefore be:

💚 Be here. ⏰ Be on time. ⭐ Be ready.

Our Friday Attendance Celebrations

Attendance will become part of our weekly Friday celebration assembly – but always in a positive and encouraging way.

Each week we will celebrate:

🏆 Attendance Champions
The year group with the highest attendance that week will be announced as our Attendance Champions and will keep our attendance trophy for the week.

🌟 100% Club
We will celebrate all children who have been in school every day and on time that week.

⏰ Punctuality Champions
We will celebrate excellent punctuality, including year groups achieving zero late marks.

📊 Weekly Attendance
Our attendance figures will be shared and celebrated so that children can see how well we are doing together.

Because St Mary’s has very small year groups, we will sometimes mix things up and celebrate achievements such as Most Improved Attendance, Zero Lates or Everyone On Time too!

🎟️ Every Day Counts – The Big Termly Prize Draw!

We don't want one genuine illness at the beginning of a term to mean that a child has no opportunity to be rewarded for excellent attendance for the rest of that term.

Instead, children will be able to earn entries into our Every Day Counts Prize Draw throughout the term.

How can children earn entries?

⭐ 1 entry
For every full Monday–Friday week of attendance.

⏰ +1 BONUS entry
For every full week with no late marks.

The more great weeks a child has, the more entries they collect and the more chances they have of winning!

At the end of each term, all the entries will go into our BIG Every Day Counts Prize Draw, with some exciting prizes up for grabs!

🏅 Our Termly Attendance Awards

We also want to give special recognition to children who achieve exceptional attendance across the whole term.

🌟 100% – Outstanding Attendance

Children achieving 100% attendance for the term will receive:

A special certificate + a small prize + FIVE bonus entries into the big prize draw!

💚 97%+ – Excellent Attendance

Children achieving 97% attendance or above will receive:

A certificate + THREE bonus entries into the big prize draw!

🎁 Every Day Counts Prize Draw

Every entry children have collected during the term will then go into our big draw.

Prizes might include vouchers, experiences and special school treats – and we hope to have a few surprises along the way!

What About Genuine Illness?

This is really important.

We do not want children coming to school when they are genuinely unwell.

Our Every Day Counts initiative is not about encouraging poorly children into school, nor do we want a child to feel disappointed because they have experienced an unavoidable illness or medical absence.

That is exactly why children can earn prize draw entries week by week. If a child is poorly, once they are better and return to school, they have a fresh opportunity to start earning entries again.

Our focus is on encouraging positive attendance habits, good punctuality and avoiding unnecessary absence.

Holidays During Term Time

We ask all families to support us by arranging holidays outside of school term time.

Taking a holiday during term time means children miss teaching that cannot simply be recreated when they return. In a small school with mixed-age classes, every part of our carefully planned learning sequence matters.

Five school days away may mean around 25 lessons missed – as well as assemblies, friendships, enrichment activities and other opportunities that are an important part of school life.

We therefore ask parents to make every effort to protect children's learning time and avoid booking holidays during the school term.

Working Together

Our approach to attendance will always be about working with families.

Where we notice concerns about a child's attendance or punctuality, we will talk to parents privately, listen to any circumstances affecting the family and work together wherever support is needed.

We will never publicly identify children because of poor attendance.

Instead, our public message will always be about celebrating the positive and encouraging everyone to do their very best.

Thank you, as always, for working in partnership with us to give our children the best possible opportunities.