Crawley MP, Henry Smith, has welcomed the news that the number of pupils persistently skipping school in West Sussex has fallen by 23.5 per cent since 2010.
In 2009/10, 5,607 pupils were persistently absence from school but this has fallen to 4,291.
Henry said:
“The evidence shows that persistent absence from school has a serious detrimental effect on pupils’ performance and so it’s great news that, thanks to this Government’s actions, truancy has dramatically reduced by 23.5 per cent in West Sussex.
“Alongside measures to give teachers powers to search pupils and impose same-day detentions, this news demonstrates the Government’s determination to get tough on bad behaviour.
“This Government is reintroducing rigour into our schools, ensuring high standards of discipline are maintained, and our EBacc means that more young people are studying for the key academic subjects that will help them get a job.”
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Notes
- Persistent absence is down by almost a third, thanks to the government’s reforms to boost attendance and improve classroom discipline. The figures for the 2012 to 2013 academic year show:
- 300,895 were persistently absent in 2012 to 2013, down from 433,130 in 2009 to 2010 - a fall of almost a third
- 130,000 fewer pupils were missing 15% of school - equivalent to missing 18 months of a whole school career
- 7.7 million fewer school days were lost to overall absence - 49.3 million days in 2012 to 2013 compared to 57 million days in 2009 to 2010
- overall absence is down from 6% of sessions in 2009 to 2010 to 5.2% of sessions in 2012 to 2013
- The evidence shows absence from school has a significant negative effect on attainment. Of pupils who miss between 10% and 20% of school, only 39% achieve at least 5 A* to C GCSEs including English and maths. This compares to 73% of pupils who miss less than 5% of school.
- The government has introduced a package of measures to help schools ensure more children attend class, and to give heads and teachers greater powers to tackle bad behaviour. These include:
- encouraging schools to tackle the problem of persistent absence earlier. The government reduced the threshold by which absence is defined as persistent from 20% to 15% from October 2011. This means schools are held to a higher standard in performance tables than previously
- increasing fines for truancy from £50 to £60, and from £100 to £120 if not paid within 28 days from September 2012, and cutting the time for paying the penalties from 42 to 28 days from September 2013
- making clear that teachers can use ‘reasonable force’ to maintain behaviour, extending searching powers and allowing teachers to impose same-day detentions from 2011.
(Department for Education Press Release, 25 March 2014, link).