Dear Parents and Carers,
Punctuality is the first step towards success
Being punctual and on time is one of life’s most important qualities, whether you’re a child, adult, teacher or parent. It shows you are reliable, dependable, can be trusted and demonstrates respect to other people and for their time.
Over the past year, it has become noticeable that incidents of lateness, both in the morning and at the end of the school day, have increased. As a senior leadership team, we feel now is the right time to highlight this growing issue and promote the lifelong benefits of being punctual.
In terms of Greswold, since January 8th 2024 up to 21st February 2024, there have been nearly 800 cases of pupil lateness and that is just in the mornings! Below is a breakdown of the reasons why pupils have been late. Medical appointments are not included.
Number of late pupils |
Reason |
354 |
Traffic |
241 |
No reason given |
78 |
Weather |
59 |
Overslept |
45 |
Unwell |
Total 777 |
The amount of minutes of learning time lost in total due to lateness during this period is nearly 12,000!
Admittedly, modern day living can provide many challenges and, as a school community, we are aware of this. There are occasions when things can get stressful, things go wrong, or unforeseen circumstances can cause a family to be a few minutes late. However, our role as educators, in partnership with parents, is to also prepare pupils for the next step in their school careers and beyond. This means young people need to value the importance of being on time. Greswold Year 6 pupils are allowed the responsibility of travelling to and from school for this purpose.
There is an enormous amount of published material on the benefits of being punctual, especially for school, and also relating to the implications of being late.
Being on time (supported by published material):
Impact on pupils who are late
Unfortunately, but understandably, there are a number of negative consequences for pupils who arrive late to school:
Minutes late everyday |
Total learning time lost each year |
5 minutes everyday |
3.4 days |
10 minutes everyday |
6.9 days |
15 minutes everyday |
10.3 days |
20 minutes everyday |
13.8 days |
30 minutes everyday |
20.7 days |
Helpful tips and guidance to improve punctuality
Mr Hornsey will be holding a coffee morning and a separate coffee afternoon for any parents who would like to attend to chat about issues relating to punctuality before or after school. These will take place on the afternoon of Thursday 7th March at 2:15pm and Wednesday 13th March at 9:00am. Any parent is welcome to attend these informal gatherings, however if you do wish to attend, please inform the school office beforehand so Mr Hornsey can get enough biscuits for everyone!!!!!!!
There is also an opportunity for parents to share their own tips and successes for maintaining punctuality, simply by clicking on the link below and completing the very simple questionnaire:
Reach out via the school office if you would like us to signpost you to further information or external services to improve punctuality.
Yours faithfully,
Mr Hornsey
Deputy Headteacher