Of the 150 local authorities across the country, attendance data for the autumn and spring terms 2015-16 show that City of York Council is the ninth best performer of all other local authorities.

Compared nationally, York’s overall attendance level has further improved since 2014-15 when absence was 4.2 per cent. In 2015-16, it improved to 4.0 per cent for same period. York’s performance is better than the national trend which shows that levels of absence fell from 4.5% to 4.4% in the same period. Levels of pupils who are regarded as persistently absent in York – absent for 10 per cent of available sessions – are shown to be the eleventh lowest in the UK with 8.8 per cent for York compared to the national figure of 10.3 per cent.

Compared regionally, York has the second lowest figures for absence in the Yorkshire and Humber region. Regional figures are 4.4 per cent for overall absence and 10.8 per cent persistent absentees respectively.

Absenteeism can be due to a number of factors including parental neglect, truancy, holidays or non-essential appointments. Pupils who miss between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of school tend to have lower attainment levels than average, with only 35 per cent achieving five A* to C GCSEs, including English and maths.

The full data is at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england-autumn-2015-and-spring-2016