‘Encouraging’ fall in pupils skipping school

TRUANCY levels are continuing to fall throughout Oldham’s primary and secondary schools.

Figures from the Department of Education show the highest attendance rates on record during a spring term.

And absence rates were also lower than the national average when it comes to pupils missing lessons.

In Oldham primary schools, 94.93 per cent of sessions were attended, compared with the national average of 94.78 per cent.

The figure for secondary schools was 93.72 per cent, 0.37 per cent above the average.
Persistent absence rates — pupils with less than 80 per cent attendance — have also dropped across the borough, with primaries falling from 2.73 per cent to 1.97 per cent, and secondary schools recording a fall from 6.08 per cent to 4.20 per cent.

Councillor Jack Hulme, cabinet member for children and families, said: “These figures are very encouraging and show year-on-year that more and more pupils are attending lessons.

“This is down to the efforts of the pupils but also the hard work schools and the council has done to improve attendance rates.”