Tougher truancy rule may shame Yorkshire

Yorkshire already has the highest level of persistent absentees from secondary schools in the country according to Department for Education (DfE) figures.

Now the Government is changing the definition of who should be classed as persistently absent.

Under the old rules it applied to anyone who missed a fifth of their education through either truancy, being taken out of school without permission or authorised absence.

Now the DfE have said that any pupil who misses 15 per cent of lessons will be classed as a persistent absentee.

According to the most recent figures for the autumn term of 2010 there were almost 30,000 pupils in Yorkshire classes who missed a fifth of their education – the equivalent of a day a week. This included 18,238 secondary school pupils.

However, Ministers say the threshold needs to lower to tackle pupils struggling as a result of missing too much of their education.

Latest figures show that while 184,000 pupils miss 20 per cent of lessons, more than 430,000 pupils miss 15 per cent of lessons a year – the equivalent of having a month off school a year.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said: “We know that children who are absent for substantial parts of their education fall behind their friends and struggle to catch up. By changing the threshold on persistent absence, we are encouraging schools to crack down on persistent absenteeism.

“We will be setting out over the coming months stronger powers for schools to use if they wish to send a clear message to parents that persistent absence is unacceptable.”