A SCHOOL in Andover has won a national award for student attendance. 

Harrow Way Community School has won a Fischer Family Trust (FFT). The school’s attendance was in the top 25 per cent of all similar schools nationally for the 2022 autumn term.

The Fischer Family Trust (FFT) collects daily attendance data from over 10,500 schools to help schools track, monitor and compare their attendance every week through the Attendance Tracker system.

The data collected is used to identify lower and higher attendance by year and student groups and provides the school with detailed data on their attendance performance versus the national breakdown across key groups.

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Headteacher Michael Serridge said: “Attendance is absolutely key to student outcomes and success. We raised the profile of attendance some years ago, simply because we know, the more students attend school, the more they learn, the greater their results. This gives them broader progression opportunities which can lead to better job prospects ultimately.

“Achieving great attendance has been a whole school community effort, and we’re very grateful for both student and their parent/carer support in reaching this achievement.”

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For students with 90 per cent attendance, it is equivalent to having half a day off school a week which, over five years equates to half a year of schooling missed.

Against this backdrop Harrow Way’s approach is to put attendance firmly in the spotlight and keep students engaged and wanting to attend school with a broad spectrum of activities, trips, clubs and educational experiences on offer.

Commenting on Harrow Way’s success FFT said: “Whilst all schools do an amazing job to improve pupil attendance, we’d like to say a special ‘thank you’ to your school by presenting you with an FFT National School Attendance Award.”