Yorkshire bottom of the class for pupils skipping lessons

The truancy rate rose to more than one per cent of half days between last September and December an increase from 0.93 per cent for the same term in 2009.

The hike has been fuelled by rising numbers of primary school pupils missing school without permission.

More lessons were missed in Yorkshire than any other Government region in England outside of inner London with 1.32 per cent of half days lost to truancy or unauthorised absences such as children being taken on holidays or extended trips away without the school’s permission.

The region also had the highest level of secondary school pupils who are classed as persistent absentees – missing a fifth of their education.

More than one in 20 secondary school pupils in the region missed the equivalent of one day a week in the first term of this academic year.

Figures published yesterday by the Department for Education show that 6.2 per cent of secondary school pupils and 4.7 per cent of all pupils in the region have missed a fifth of their education.

In the autumn term almost 30,000 pupils were regularly absent from school, of which 18,238 were secondary school pupils.

Hull and Sheffield had the highest level of persistent absentees in the region with 5.8 per cent of pupils overall. Leeds and Bradford and Doncaster also had more than one in 20 pupils missing a fifth of their education so far this year.

In some cases pupils have already missed so many lessons in one term that even if they have a 100 per cent attendance record from January they will still be classed as persistent absentees over the course of a year. There were 3,815 such pupils across Yorkshire who have missed 64 half day sessions in the first term of the year.

Nationally the statistics show that primary school pupils missed 0.75 per cent of half days without permission last autumn, equivalent to around 24,700 children on a typical day. This has risen from 0.62 per cent in autumn term 2009, and from 0.48 per cent in the same term of 2006.

More secondary school pupils also skipped lessons, with the truancy rate rising to 1.37 per cent – the equivalent of around 39,000 pupils – from 1.28 per cent in 2009. The unauthorised absence rate in secondaries is now the same as it was five years ago. Overall, around 64,000 children were skipping school without permission on an average day in the last autumn term.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said: “Absenteeism is still too high. We know that children who are absent for substantial parts of their education fall behind their peers and struggle to catch up. Truancy is often linked to poor literacy skills – that’s why we are focusing on improving reading with synthetic phonics. Our Education Bill puts teachers back in control of the classroom so pupils can be taught without disruption and teachers have more power to tackle truancy.”