Figures released from the Department for Education last month show that secondary schools on the Isle of Wight have the highest percentage of absentees and persistent absentees than anywhere else in England.
Figures for 2011-12 reveal that secondary schools reported 8.4% of absentees (5.9% the England average), with 13.6% of persistent absentees (7.4% the England average).
This was a rise from the previous year, 2010-11, which showed 7.6% and 8.4% respectively for the Isle of Wight.
Absentee rates questioned in Scrutiny Panel
Readers might remember one of the proposed minute amendments suggested by Dave Miller to the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel meeting last month, was in relation to worsening attendance rates.
He’d wanted to see included in the minutes:
A member of the panel sought clarification of the national secondary attendance rate, given the report stated that our figure of 88.7% was below average.
Upon provision of the answer (94%), the panel considered that it would be desirable for future reporting to be clearer.
The proposed amendment to the official minutes was rejected by the Chairman Cllr George Cameron.
Full details of LA statistics can be found on the Department for Education’s website.
Image: Ryan Stanton under CC BY 2.0
