---

Truancy: Berkshire

Answer

Information on pupil absence in 2009/10 is shown in the table. Berkshire was reorganised in 1998, information has been provided for the six local authorities that Berkshire was divided into.The closest measure we have to truancy is unauthorised absence. However, this includes family holidays not agreed, late arrival, ““other unauthorised circumstances””, and ““no reason given””, not all of which is truancy.

Pupil absence in state-funded secondary schools¹,²: 2009/10
		Percentage of half days missed³
	Pupil enrolments in schools during 2009/104	Authorised absence	Unauthorised absence	Overall absence	Percentage of persistent absentees5,6
Bracknell Forest	5,646	0.06	0.01	0.07	0.04
Reading	5,205	0.05	0.01	0.06	0.03
Slough	8,175	0.06	0.01	0.07	0.04
West Berkshire	10,062	0.05	0.01	0.07	0.04
Windsor and Maidenhead	8,641	0.05	0.01	0.06	0.03
Wokingham	8,677	0.05	0.01	0.07	0.04
Reading West constituency	5,958	0.06	0.01	0.07	0.05
¹ Includes middle schools as deemed.
² Excludes city technology colleges and academies.
³ The number of sessions missed due to authorised/unauthorised/overall absence expressed as a percentage of the total number of possible sessions.
4 Number of pupil enrolments in schools from start of the school year until 21 May 2010. Includes pupils on the school roll for at least one session who are aged between five and 15. Excludes boarders. Some pupils may be counted more than once (if they moved schools during the school year or are registered in more than one school).
5 Number of persistent absentees expressed as a percentage of the total number of enrolments.
6 Persistent absentees are defined as having 64 or more sessions of absence (authorised and unauthorised) during the year, around 20% overall absence rate.
Source:
School Census

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

49771; 526 c546-8W

Session

2010-12

Subjects

Truancy Berkshire

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk