ABSENCE RECORDS

The Tables show the levels of authorised and unauthorised absence for day pupils of compulsory school age (5 to 16).

Authorised absence is absence with permission from a teacher or other authorised representative of the school. This includes absences for which a satisfactory explanation has been provided (e.g. 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 information relates to pupil absences in the 2004/05 school year up to and including Friday 27 May 2005. Boarding pupils are not included. The first column shows the number of day pupils in this age range. The second and third columns show the percentage of half days missed as a result of:

• authorised absence; and
• unauthorised absence.

If we have not received complete information from a school, 'No information received' is shown in the relevant columns. 'Not applicable' applies to boarding schools with no day pupils. In the case of schools that are part boarding, the published statistics relate only to the school's day pupils and may not represent the levels of absence in the school as a whole.

There may be inconsistencies for some schools in the figures for the number of pupils on roll on 20 January 2005 and the pupils of compulsory school age for calculating pupil absences. This is because they have been worked out in different ways and serve different purposes.