School absence rates remain high - here's why it matters - video Dailymotion

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00:00Hello, my name is Amber Allitt and I'm a journalist specialising in education.

00:05The government has finally released full attendance and absence figures for the 2023-2024 school

00:11year and it's shone a light on some interesting trends.

00:15The overall absence rate, or the percentage of sessions missed for all pupils, for the

00:20year was 7.1%, a slight drop on the previous year's figure of 7.4%.

00:27A whopping 20% of pupils, or 1 in 5, were classed as persistently absent.

00:33This means they missed at least 10% of their class time.

00:36But again, this was down on the 2022-23 school year figure, which had 21.2% of pupils classed

00:44as persistently absent.

00:46Although the improvements may seem small, the last academic year's figures may represent

00:51that the tide is starting to turn on the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on young

00:56people.

00:57But it is worth noting that there is still some way to go, and even this year's absence

01:02rate of 7.1% is much higher than the pre-pandemic rate of 4.7%.

01:09Now you might be wondering why absence figures are such a big deal, but school attendance

01:13is really important.

01:15This is why there's been such a sharp focus on it in recent months.

01:19The Department for Education has also released new research on the impacts of attendance

01:23on children's attainment at school.

01:26Pupils who attended nearly every day in year 11 were almost twice as likely to achieve

01:30a grey 5, or a strong pass, in their English and Maths GCSEs compared to pupils who attended

01:3690-95% of the time.

01:40This means that every little bit can count when it comes to your child making the most

01:43of their education.