16 students have had their devotion to their lessons pay off as they were treated to a slap-up breakfast at the Mickleover Court Hotel for their 100% attendance.
The year 11 pupils from Littleover Community School were taken to breakfast by head teacher Ash Venkatesh to celebrate their achievement of not missing a day of school since year 7.
The 15 and 16 year old pupils are just about to finish school ahead of their GCSE exams. Mr Venkatesh said that the breakfast had become an annual event for pupils who had managed to complete five years of school without any days off.
He said: “Most years there are a handful of pupils. So to find there are 16 this year was a bit of a surprise. We arranged for them to be picked up by myself and other members of staff from home and to be taken for the breakfast event at the hotel. For so much hard work and dedication, it’s a good way of praising their efforts.”
This isn’t to say that the pupils didn’t get their fair share of sniffles, but they chose to attend school despite feeling a bit poorly.
16 year old Emma Goodwin said: “When I’ve been a bit poorly, I just made myself come to school. I persevered because I know it’s a big achievement.”
Tirath Badwal, also 16, agreed and said: “I enjoy school so I always want to come to lessons – even when I was a little bit ill, I still came because it was important to be here.”
Katy Dearden, thinks that “school is more important than being under the weather”. She said: “I came in even when I was ill.”
16-year-old James Realey said that he doesn’t really know how he has been able to attend school every day.
He said: “I don’t eat fruit or vegetables to stay healthy but I was determined to come to school and I was lucky I was never ill.”
Henna Rana, 16, added: “It was good to celebrate our achievement. I’ve been committed to coming in each day and, because I enjoy school, I always wanted to be there.”
The pupils with 100% attendance are: James Realey, Eric Herbert, Jessica Shanker, Preeti Rai, Matthew Hassall, Katy Dearden, Henna Rana, Aaron Dinas, Robert Matthews, Dilraj Gill, Sanna Hussain, Laa’qa Shazadi, Tirath Badwal, Rebecca Saw, Emma Goodwin and Samuel Foxon.