A DARWEN primary school has seen a huge rise in students arriving on time for school after holding a special week focusing on punctuality.

The decision to fold a punctuality week came after Sudell Primary School recorded 83 late arrivals in one week during last month, the highest the school had ever seen.

In an attempt to get rid of the worrying statistics, staff decided to set up a week where they would reward the classes who had the most students arriving on time.

Jane Murphy, vice principal of Sudell Primary School, said just the announcement of a punctuality week halved the number of late arrivals and she is optimistic that when numbers are collated for this week today, they will have decreased even further.

She said: "We have been trying to communicate as best we can with parents about just how important it is to get children to school on time, because it always has a knock-on effect.

"We want to make this theme more regular, so this will be the start of a few punctuality weeks and we want to start having weekly winners for classes that have the most students arriving on time.

"Your attendance and punctuality can change your GCSE results and if you arrive in relaxed manner to school it can make such a difference to your day.

"It's been a really successful week and I'm hoping that when we do collate this week's results that the number of late arrivals will have decreased significantly.

"We want to make it a habit for children to arrive on time and I'm positive about that happening now."

Certificates will be given out to Sudell students today in assembly who have made a special effort this week to improve their punctuality.

The class which has had the most children arrive on time will also receive a trophy and in future, Mrs Murphy wants to reward students with non-uniform days and longer 'golden time'.

She said: "The kids love non-uniform days and we also have golden time where the children get to choose what they would like to do with part of the day, so I would like to give them that time for longer if they are punctual.

"It's certainly given the children more incentive to arrive on time and I hope it continues."

Cllr Roy Davies, who represents the area on Darwen Town Council, said: “It’s absolutely critical that students are at school on time.

“The area is quite deprived and I know that some families struggle to get everything ready in the morning.

“The recent bad weather also hasn’t helped.

“I’m glad that the scheme that the school has put in place seems to have worked."