69,000 cases of school truancy

THOUSANDS of pupils are skipping school across Oldham, worrying figures have revealed.

Latest figures show secondary and primary school pupils in the borough were absent from more than 442,000 classes during the 2007 autumn term and 2008 spring term — of which 69,000 were unauthorised absences.

The figures for primary school reveal there were 21,487 unauthorised half-day absences across Oldham and a further 48,336 unauthorised half-day sessions for secondary school pupils.

Nationally there were more than 91 million overall absences recorded from classes — with truancy accounting for 14 million.

The national picture also revealed the most commonly reported reason for absence was illness, which accounted for 59 per cent of all instances, followed by family holidays.

Schools are able to grant up to 10 days authorised holiday on a discretionary basis.

But Children’s Minister Kevin Brennan said even a couple of days unofficial holiday could have a negative impact on a child’s progress.

He said: “While I sympathise with the financial pressure on parents when planning holidays, no cut-price deal is worth harming a child’s education for, and we need parents to work with schools, not against them, to make sure their children are in school every day.”

The figures, released by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, also showed that the number of primary school pupils deemed persistent absentees has risen.

Worryingly, 81,530 pupils missed more than 20 per cent of all possible school sessions, compared with 74,000 last year. However, this extends further than persistent truants and includes pupils off for authorised absence.

Liberal Democrat spokesman for children, schools and families, David Laws said: “The level of truancy in this country is deeply worrying. It is totally unacceptable that the equivalent of over 11 million school days are being lost each year.

“The figures make a mockery of New Labour’s initial promises to make tackling truancy a priority. More youngsters are bunking off school now than in 1997. Ministers have thrown vast sums of money at this problem, but to little effect.

“It’s obvious that Labour’s top-down approach has failed. What is needed is a more effective local approach involving parents, schools and the police.”