Letter to Parents and Carers: Working together for your child’s success – Fridays and Attendance

Dear Parents and Carers,

We are writing to ask for your support in helping your child get the most out of their education.

We want every student at our school to do well, build confidence, and reach their full potential. To make this happen, being in school every day matters.

Learning on a Friday is just as important as any other day of the week. Lessons on Friday build on what students learn earlier in the week and help set them up for the week ahead.

Our school attendance data shows that far more students are absent on Fridays than on any other day.

If a student misses Fridays across this half term, it adds up to 48 hours of missed learning.

Missing 48 hours of lessons makes it much harder for students to keep up with their class, feel confident in their work, and achieve their best results.

School is not just about passing tests, it is also about building life skills. One of the most important skills we can teach our young people is resilience: learning to keep going, even on days when they feel a bit tired or unmotivated at the end of the week.

There is a direct link between regular attendance and student success. Children who attend school regularly get better results, feel more connected to their friends, and build habits that help them in adult life.

We are also seeing a high number of requests from parents to pick students up early during the school day.

When students leave early, they miss key learning time, and it disrupts the end of the lesson for the whole class. We need you to work with us by keeping early pickups for essential medical emergencies only. Helping your child stay for the full school day is a powerful way to build their resilience and stick-with-it attitude.

We cannot do this without your support. Here is how you can help:

Thank you for working with us to give our young people the best possible future.

Yours faithfully,