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ForewordRegular attendance is an essential prerequisite of effective schooling. The time young people spend in school is precious: they need to develop and maintain habits of regular attendance and punctuality if they are to make the most of what schools have to offer.Children absent from school without authority miss out on education and fall further and further behind. They can also become easy prey to those who would do them harm. Some may themselves be tempted to engage in criminal or anti-social activity. Parents have the central responsibility in law for ensuring that, once registered at school, their children attend regularly. The vast majority of parents accept their legal and moral responsibilities. A minority do not and place their children's future at risk. Unauthorised absence from school has far-reaching effects, both educational and social, for the whole community. It is right that we should focus attention on the issue. These tables help do that by providing information on levels of absence in different areas and by type of school. They highlight the scale of the problem and should stimulate positive debate on ways of tackling it. As in previous years, levels of authorised absence are also included, to give the reader the full picture. I am grateful to schools and LEAs for assisting in compilation of these tables. Rt Hon Gillian Shephard MP
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