Yorkshire
bottom of
the class for truancy
in Britain

The county’s state primary and secondary schools had the joint-highest truancy rate in England in autumn and spring 2011/12, according to data released by the Department for Education (DfE).

They also had the highest rate of pupils classed as persistent absentees, having missed 19 days of school or more over the two terms.

Yorkshire’s overall truancy rate – measured by the percentage of half-days missed without permission – was joint-highest with London’s at 1.1 per cent. In secondary schools, pupils skipped 1.6 per cent of sessions without a valid excuse – more than anywhere else in the country.

More than 35,000 pupils in the region were persistently absent from classes, accounting for 5.4 per cent of enrolments, and in high schools the figure rose to 7.5 per cent – both higher than in any other region.

The new statistics, published yesterday, are the latest in a string of poor attendance figures for Yorkshire, which has seen its data for last year skewed by particularly high levels of absence in Hull and Barnsley, where one in 10 pupils regularly skips classes.

Campaign for Real Education secretary Nick Seaton, from York, said parents and teachers needed to work together to tackle a “culture” of truancy in certain schools and areas, supported by more stringent enforcement.

“It’s very sad that Yorkshire should be doing so badly,” he said.

“Parents need to encourage their children to value an education and make sure they go to school to enable them to be successful in later life.

“Schools themselves ought to be less accepting of truancy, and heads and governors need to ensure these frightening numbers are kept down.”

Yorkshire’s overall absence rate, including sessions missed due to illness and other permissible reasons such as religious observance, was 5.1 per cent – roughly in line with the national average.

The overall absence rate in England has fallen slightly to five per cent from 5.8 per cent in the same two terms of the previous year.

But the figures still show around 56,500 pupils were missing from lessons without permission on a typical day last year.

The truancy – or unauthorised absence rate – stood at 0.9 per cent of half days missed, down slightly from one per cent the year before.

The latest figures also showed that 310,435 pupils were considered “persistent absentees” – a rate of nearly one in 20.

Statisticians said the drop in overall absence this year was down to fewer pupils taking time off for illness.

“Figures from the Health Protection Agency show substantially lower levels of flu-like illness around autumn 2011 than in previous years,”a report said.

The Muslim festival of Eid also fell outside term time, which could account for a “relatively large” fall in absence for religious observance, it added.

‘Tackle poverty’: Page 7.