With a new school term, pupils are being encouraged to get on the starting line for the new school attendance race.
Knowsley Council’s Education Improvement Team is working with pupils to encourage them to have regular, 100% school attendance. Their belief, backed by indisputable data, is that by attending school, pupils can achieve and succeed.
School attendance has been improving in Knowsley – the autumn term in 2015 was the best attended in five years – and this campaign aims to increase the number of pupils with 100% attendance – the figure for the last academic year saw an improvement of 14%.
To encourage pupils to maintain excellent school attendance, a gold / silver / bronze medal award campaign has been introduced. Since it was adopted in September 2015, it has received positive feedback from pupils, who are striving to achieve gold medal status. At the end of the summer term last year, 2,135 gold medals were awarded to pupils with 100% attendance.
There are a number of presentation ceremonies being planned in September to further mark these achievements. Plus, Hollywood actor Stephen Graham pledged his support to the campaign by visiting schools earlier this year to reiterate the school attendance message.
“Through our campaign, we can see that our message around school attendance is being received and acted upon. We hope to build on the success of last year’s campaign and award even more medals this year. My message is simple – attending school regularly is the most important thing you can do – it will help you to achieve your potential and help you succeed in later life.”
The council’s School Attendance Service will continue to work with schools across the borough, monitor attendance, offer advice and support and take action if absences persist.
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