Official figures for the autumn term (DfE, 2024) show that persistent absence has improved year-on-year, but is still running at 20.1%.
However, at secondary level it is even higher, at 24.6% – meaning that a quarter of students missed 10% or more of their school sessions during the autumn term.
The figures are even worse for students on free schools meals (FSMs) with one third (33%) being persistently absent during autumn term.
Overall, attendance levels from September to December hit 93.2%, dropping to 91.6% for secondary schools and 89.6% for students on free schools meals (FSMs).
One bright point is that figures for the first week of January show marginal improvements of 0.2% on the average absence rates recorded during the autumn term.
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