UK Primary school truancy reaches new high

The number of primary school pupils truanting each day has reached a record high, new figures show.

Statistics published by the Department for Education reveal an average of 23,244 primary school pupils were off school without permission each day between September 2010 and April 2011 – the autumn and spring terms.

The government calculates pupil absence by half days of school lost. During the autumn and spring terms, 0.69% of half days were lost in primary schools due to unauthorised absence, compared with 0.68% for the same period the year before and 0.52% five years ago.

The figures show that the overall number of pupils truanting in primary and secondary schools has gone up since last year.

Some 1.03% of half days were lost in primary and secondary schools due to unauthorised absence, compared with 1.01% for the same period last year. This is the equivalent of more than 64,000 pupils missing lessons each day without permission.

The number of pupils truanting in secondary schools has also risen since last year. Some 40,871 secondary school pupils truanted each day over the autumn and spring terms – the equivalent of 1.41% of half days lost. The year before, 1.40% of half days were lost.

The coalition government has tried to cut truancy by allowing teachers to discipline pupils outside the school grounds. Ministers have also asked inspectors to place a greater importance on pupil behaviour when visiting a school.

The proportion of lesson time lost due to absence with or without a reason is falling in primary and secondary schools. The figures show that 5.78% of lesson time in primary and secondary schools was lost due to absence (authorised and unauthorised), compared with 6.04% a year earlier.

Nick Gibb, the schools minister, described the figures as "worrying".

"Children who are absent for substantial parts of their education fall behind and struggle to catch up," he said.

"Persistent absence is a serious problem. Much of the work children miss when they are off school is never made up, leaving them at a considerable disadvantage to their peers. There is clear evidence of a link between poor attendance at school and low levels of achievement."

The government has changed the definition of a persistent absentee. This used to be a pupil who misses one day or more of school a week. It is now classified as a pupil who misses a month or more of lessons a year.

The figures show that more than 450,000 pupils (7.2%) missed a month of lessons a year. More than a million pupils (16.4%) missed half a day or more of school a week, the figures show.

The most common reported reason for absence was illness, which accounted for 61% of all absence.

Absence for family holidays accounted for 9% of all absence. (from Guardian)

Wonder what the Channel Island statistics are?