Admissions and Attendance

Admissions

Drake Primary Academy is part of Reach South Academy Trust. The academy trust is its own admission authority. However, it has decided to become incorporated into the Local Authority admissions procedures. The parents of a child wishing to join the school will have to contact Plymouth Schools’ Admissions team before their child can start at Drake. You are very welcome to visit the school at any time. Please contact the office to make an appointment.

Plymouth Schools Admissions Team can be contacted through their website:

or email: [email protected]

Or for further information about choosing and applying for schools call 01752 307170 or 01752 307110 for primary in-year admissions or 01752 307467 for secondary in-year admissions.

Plymouth City Council school admissions staff are available from: 11am to 3pm.

Consultation on admission arrangements 2026/2027. 
We will be consulting on our admission arrangements for 2026/2027 through Plymouth City Council. The consultation will be live between Monday 2 December 2024 and Sunday 12 January 2025. If you wish to find out about our policy or make any comment, please visit Consultation on school admission arrangements | PLYMOUTH.GOV.UK

DRAFT Reach MAT - Plymouth Primaries Admission - 2026- 27 v3

Attendance

Attendance Lead 

Mrs. F. Bywater

We know the impact regular attendance has on your child’s learning and well-being; and that having good attendance is directly linked to raising achievement and develops skills for life and work. We have many initiatives to celebrate and support attendance in school and ask that parents/careers support the school in this by ensuring that your child attends school every day and arrives ready to learn and on time. 

If there are concerns about your child's lateness or attendance, the Attendance Lead will contact you. Please be open about the challenges you are facing, in order for the school to try their best to support you and your child to improve their attendance.

The link between attendance and attainment is clear:

• In 2018/19, just 40% of persistently absent (PA) children in KS2 achieved expected KS2 standards, compared with 84% of pupils who were regular attenders.

• And 36% of PA children in KS4 got 9 to 4 in their English and maths GCSEs, also compared with 84% of regular attenders.

It’s never too late to benefit from good attendance:

• More than half (54%) of pupils who were PA in Year 10 and then rarely absent in Year 11, passed at least 5 GCSEs, compared to 36% of pupils who were persistently absent in both years.

Attendance is important for more than just attainment:

• Regular school attendance can facilitate positive peer relationships, which is a protective factor for mental health and wellbeing.

• Clear Daily Routines
• Expectations for Parents - who to contact for daily absence.
• Impact of absence – missed learning.

• Impact of Lateness

‘Lateness for anyone, child or adult, can make us feel vulnerable. Walking into a settled focused classroom, trying to catch up with the lost learning and missing out on the vital start of the day opportunities prepared by teachers, contribute to making it harder for a child to feel settled and confident. If this is a regular occurrence, it can have a profound impact on your child's learning and well-being.

• Weekly Attendance per Year Group/Whole School and Targets
• Links to national websites/information

Is my child too ill for school? - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Back to school week – Everything you need to know about school attendance - The Education Hub (blog.gov.uk)

The changes to the Code of Conduct mean that no penalty notice will be issued for unauthorised holiday absence which is equivalent 10 sessions (5 days) in a rolling 12-month period. For all other types of unauthorised absence, the threshold will remain at 8 sessions (4 days within a rolling 12-month period).