INTRODUCTION

Under section 36 of the Education Act 1944, parents of children of compulsory school age (5-16) are required to ensure that they receive a suitable education by regular attendance at school or otherwise. Failure to comply with this duty can lead to prosecution.

By law, schools are required to take attendance registers twice a day. This is done at the beginning of the morning and afternoon sessions. Some schools also call class registers at the start of each lesson. Where a day pupil of compulsory school age is absent, schools have to indicate in their register whether the absence is authorised by the school or unauthorised. Local education authorities (LEAs) are responsible in law for making sure that pupils attend school.

This booklet contains tables which show the following, for day pupils of compulsory school age:

• levels of authorised and unauthorised absence from maintained primary schools in each local education authority area
• levels of authorised and unauthorised absence from maintained secondary schools in each local education authority area
• the national position, broken down by different types of school.

A maintained school is a grant-maintained (GM) school or a school that is funded by a local education authority.

Authorised absence is absence with permission from a teacher or other authorised representative of the school. This includes instances of absence for which a satisfactory explanation has been provided (eg illness).

Unauthorised absence is absence without permission from a teacher or other authorised representative of the school. This includes all unexplained or unjustified absences.

The tables show the percentage of half days missed due to authorised and unauthorised absence in the 1994/95 school year up to and including 26 May 1995. To place these figures in context, the tables also include the average number of half days missed per absent pupil.

Number of day pupils of compulsory school age means day pupils of compulsory school age (5-16) in responding schools.

LEAs are listed alphabetically. For purposes of comparison average figures for different types of school are included within this document.

You can get copies of this in booklet form, free of charge, by contacting the DfEE.