Children Still Missing School

30 March 2011, 05:00

Thousands of schoolchildren are still taking lots of days off.

Latest figures from Norfolk County Council show that 2,675 pupils were persistently absent   - which means they were missing more than 20% of their time at school - in 2010.

However, that number has fallen from the year before. In 2009, 3,422 children were regularly missing school - which is a drop of nearly 750.

The County Council says it has been working closely with schools to reduce rates of absence and has been supporting schools to identify and tackle poor attendance.

The figures also show a drop in overall absence at secondary school of 0.44 percentage points, from 7.66% to 7.22%. In primary schools overall absence has fallen from 5.2% to 5.16%, a reduction of 0.04 percentage points.

As well as this, figures show that Norfolk has recorded bigger drops in persistent absence at both Primary and Secondary Level than the national average. At Secondary Level, overall absence has recorded a bigger drop than the national average, and at Primary Level overall absence continues to fall.

Suffolk County Council haven't been able to give us figures but they have given us the following statement:

"The data released by the Department for Education today confirms that Suffolk schools are maintaining low levels of persistent absence from schools. Good school attendance remains a high priority."

One school in Norwich used to struggle with attendance before it came the Open Academy, it has now seen absence rates drop to a third of what it was 18 months ago.

Hear From Vice Principal Cameron Phillips to find out why he thinks they have managed this:

 Hear From Cameron Phillips On Absence Rates