For many pupils, reaching their full academic potential means that they need to make the most of their time in school - and going to class as often as possible is a good place to start.
The Government’s full attendance figures for the most recent 2023/24 school year have now been released, which point to a lingering issue. England’s overall absence rate - the percentage of half-days missed for all pupils - remains well above pre-pandemic figures, while 1 in 5 children were labelled ‘persistently absent’, meaning they miss at least 10% of these half-day sessions.
This year’s GCSE exam season is now well underway. But when it comes to exams, a recent Department for Education report has shown that these absences add up. It found that pupils 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 as those who only attended 90 to 95% of the time. This means missing just 10 days of school slashes the likelihood of getting a strong pass by around 50%.
Included with the attendance figures was the absence data for each state-funded secondary school in the country. Using this, we have taken a closer look into how schools in the Hampshire County Council area have done - as well as the Portsmouth and Southampton City council areas - when it comes to pupils missing class for any reason.
We’ve only included schools with absence rates of 7% or lower, excluding private and special schools. While this alone is an incredible feat for any school community, parents might also notice that many schools on the list also ranked among Hampshire’s top performers in the last GCSE exam season.
Here were the 12 local secondary schools that came out on top for attendance:
1. St Edmund's Catholic School
At the top of the list is St Edmund’s, a local authority-maintained Catholic secondary school in Portsmouth. It is a high academic performer, with a GCSEs-based Progress 8 score of ‘well above average’ last year - the highest band available. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a low overall absence rate of just 4.78%. | Google
2. Bishop Challoner Catholic Secondary School
Bishop Challoner is another local authority-maintained Catholic secondary school, in Basingstoke. Another academic high achiever, it had one of the highest Progress 8 scores in the area last year. In the 2023/24 school year, it too had a low overall absence rate of just 4.93%. | Google
3. Saint George Catholic Voluntary Aided College Southampton
Saint George is a local authority-maintained Catholic secondary school in Swaythling, Southampton, which took out the top spot in our Hampshire secondary school performance ranking last year. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of 5.16%. | Google
4. Deer Park School
Deer Park is a fairly new secondary free school in the Botley area, near Southampton. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of 5.28%. | Google