The Department of Education (DfE) has released its latest data on absence rates in England for the 2023/24 school year – and it has seen a slight reduction from the year prior.
The overall absence rate was 7.1 per cent for 2023/24, which is a 0.3 per cent reduction from the school year 2022/23 which had a rate of 7.4 per cent. The data also outlined that 20 per cent of pupils were persistently absent from school meaning they missed 10 per cent or more sessions.
The GCSE exam season is well underway with the end of the season just a few weeks away - and there is a clear connection between high attendance rates and good exams outcomes. A DfE report found that students who attended school nearly every day in Year 11 were almost twice as likely to achieve a grade 5 in their English and Maths GCSEs compared to those who persistently miss school.
The News has compiled a list of Portsmouth schools with high absence rates for the 2023/24 school year. We have only included secondary schools that have an absence rate above the 7.1 per cent average.
Here are 13 schools in the city with high absence rates:
13. The Wymering School
The Wymering School had an overall absence rate of 25.2% in the 2023/24 school year. Photo: Google
14. The Harbour School, Portsmouth
The Harbour School, Portsmouth, has a Progress 8 score of -2.31 which is described as well below average. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a very high overall absence rate of just 41.4%. Photo: Google Street View