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Attendance at Grant-Aided Primary, Post-Primary and Special Schools 2007/08: Detailed Statistics

Thursday, 30 April 2009

Figures on attendance at primary, post-primary and special schools 2007 / 2008 were published today.

Key points

Primary schools

• In primary schools in 2007/08, 5.2% of all half days were missed due to absence, comprising 4.1% authorised and 1.1% unauthorised absence.
• The most common reason for absence in primary schools was illness, which is an authorised absence and accounted for 3.5% of the total half days or 66.6% of all absent half days in 2007/08.
• Controlled integrated primary schools had the highest levels of average overall absence (5.6% of the total half days) while voluntary schools had the lowest at 3.2% of the total half days.
• At 6.2% of the total half days, the highest average overall absence for primary schools was recorded by the Belfast Education and Library Board.
• Overall absence was higher for urban primary schools (5.7% of the total half days) than for rural primary schools (4.4% of the total half days).
• The figures show that average overall absence levels generally increase in line with the percentage of pupils enrolled who are eligible for free school meals. In schools where less than 10% of pupils enrolled were eligible for free school meals, the average overall absence level was 4.0% of the total half days. This compares with 8.3% of the total half days for schools with more than 50% of pupils enrolled eligible for free school meals. Since the level of free school meal eligibility is indicative of levels of deprivation, the data suggest that absence tends to be higher in more disadvantaged areas.
• Average overall absence rates were the same for boys and girls of primary school age (5.2% of the total half days).
• The highest average overall absence occurred in Year 1 of primary school when 5.9% of the total half days were missed.
• Traveller children attending primary school had a higher average overall absence rate than any other ethnic group. They missed 29.9% of the total half days, compared with 5.1% for white children and 7.2% for children from a minority ethnic background.
• Of all pupils enrolled in primary schools in 2007/08, 6.7% had no absence throughout the year. The majority (35.7%) were absent between 0.5 and 5 days in 2007/08. Just over 6% of pupils enrolled were absent for more than 25 days.
• Just over 5% of pupils enrolled missed more than 15% of the total half days. Of this group, around half were from Catholic maintained schools and almost one-quarter (23.5%) from the Belfast Education and Library Board. The largest proportion of pupils with absence levels of more than 15% were in Year 1.

Post-primary schools

• In post-primary schools in 2007/08, 7.8% of all half days were missed due to absence, comprising 5.2% authorised and 2.6% unauthorised absence.
• The most common reason for absence in post-primary schools was illness, which is an authorised absence and accounted for 4.3% of the total half days (54.7% of all absent half days).
• At 9.7% of the total half days, average levels of overall absence in secondary schools were higher than in grammar schools (4.7%).
• Controlled integrated schools had the highest levels of overall absence (11.0% of the total half days) while voluntary schools had the lowest at 4.7% of the total half days.
• At 8.4% of the total half days, average overall absence was highest in the Southern Education and Library Board post-primary schools.
• The figures indicate that generally, absence levels increase in line with the percentage of pupils enrolled who are eligible for free school meals. In schools where less than 10% of pupils enrolled were eligible for free school meals, the average overall absence level was 4.8% of the total half days. This compares with 13.3% of the total half days for schools with more than 50% of pupils enrolled eligible for free school meals. Since the level of free school meal eligibility is indicative of levels of deprivation, the data suggest that absence tends to be higher in more disadvantaged areas.
• At 7.9% and 7.7% of total half days respectively, average overall absence was similar for males and females. While the predominant cause of absence for both genders was illness, females missed a greater proportion of the total half days for this reason than males. For males, the proportion of total half days missed due to suspension from school was four times the rate for females.
• Average absence levels increased steadily between Year 8 and Year 11 (from 5.7% to 9.3% of the total half days), before decreasing to 8.6% of the total half days in Year 12.
• At 45.2% of their total half days, average level of overall absence was higher for Traveller children than for any other ethnic group. This compares with 7.7% for white children and 7.1% for children from a minority ethnic background.
• Over 5% of pupils enrolled in Year 8 to Year 12 at post-primary schools had no absence during 2007/08. Almost 28% of pupils enrolled were absent between 0.5 and 5 days in 2007/08, while 14.9% of pupils enrolled were absent for more than 25 days.
• Almost 13% of pupils enrolled were absent for more than 15% of the total half days. Of this group, around nine out of ten attended secondary schools and 43.6% attended controlled schools. There were slightly more females than males and the largest group were from Year 11.

Special schools

• In special schools in 2007/08, 11.7% of all half days were missed due to absence, comprising 8.5% authorised and 3.2% unauthorised absence.
• The most common reason for absence in special schools was illness, which is an authorised absence and accounted for 4.8% of the total half days (40.8% of all absent half days).
• Average overall absence was highest (13.6% of total half days) in the South Eastern Education and Library Board in 2007/08 and lowest in the North Eastern Education and Library Board (9.0% of total half days).
• Overall absence rates were slightly higher for females attending special schools than for males (12.2% and 11.5% of total half days respectively).
• 3% of pupils enrolled at special schools had no absence throughout 2007/08. In terms of days missed, just under one quarter of pupils enrolled (24.6%) were absent for more than 25 days in 2007/08.
• Almost one third (31%) of pupils enrolled had an overall absence rate of between 5% and 10% of the total half days. Almost one quarter (23.6%) were absent for more than 15% of the total half days.

Notes to Editors:

1. Attendance or absence of pupils should be recorded at the beginning of the morning and afternoon registration sessions therefore, is measured for every pupil in half day sessions (am and pm). It does not include absence by pupils outside the two daily registrations for example, if a pupil is recorded as present at registration but subsequently misses some of the session; this will be recorded as ‘present’.

The terms used in this report are defined in the Department of Education’s guidance to schools (Circular 2006/14, School Attendance: Absence Recording by Schools) and summarised below for information:

Attendance

In addition to actual attendance within the school premises, attendance also includes:

• Pupils who are educated off site
• Late (before registration closed)
• Approved sporting activities
• Study leave
• Educational visits
• Work experience

Authorised absence

An authorised absence is absence with permission from an authorised school representative on provision of a satisfactory explanation. This includes:

• Bereavement
• Suspension
• Agreed family holiday (in very exceptional circumstances)
• Illness
• Medical / dental appointments
• Other exceptional circumstances (includes an exceptional event outside control of the school, for example, severe weather conditions, court appearance)
• Religious observance
• Traveller absence

Unauthorised absence

An unauthorised absence is absence without permission from an authorised school representative due to unexplained or unjustified absence. This includes:

• Family holiday not agreed
• Other absence (includes absence not covered by any other code or a reason which is not acceptable to the school, for example, pupil’s / parent’s or sibling’s birthday).
• No reason provided for absence
• Late (after registration closed)

2. As with the data for England, Scotland and Wales, overall absence is considered to be a more reliable measure of absence than authorised or unauthorised absence. In Northern Ireland, schools are advised to record unexplained absence initially as ‘no reason yet provided’, however, if a reason is not provided within a specified period of time, these are changed to ‘other’. It is possible that these are automatically changed to ‘other’ at the end of the academic year or are overlooked / not followed up, thereby inflating the rate of unauthorised absence. Both figures have been provided, however limitations in comparing rates of unauthorised and authorised absence should be noted.

In addition, for those absences which are not covered by a specific code, the decision to allocate the absence as authorised or unauthorised is taken by the school.

3. Primary and post-primary data refer to pupil enrolments in Years 1 to 12 only, which aligns with the compulsory school age in Northern Ireland. Figures for special schools include all pupils attending special schools in 2007/08.

4. Attendance information was not available for 32 primary schools, which accounts for 3.6% of the total primary schools and 1.0% of all primary school pupils in Years 1 to 7 in 2007/08. Of the 32 schools, 17 closed just prior to the information being collected and the remaining 15 either did not have access to the electronic schools management information system or did not yet use it to record pupil attendance.

5. It has not been possible to include attendance data for four post-primary schools which closed prior to the data being collected in 2008/09. This equates to 1.8% of all post-primary schools and 0.4% of all Year 8 to 12 pupils in 2007/08.

6. It has not been possible to include attendance data for two special schools which closed prior to the data being collected in 2008/09. This equates to 4.7% of all special schools and 1.8% of all pupils in special schools in 2007/08.

7. Pupil level information refers to the number of pupil enrolments rather than the number of pupils. A pupil can move schools during the year and will therefore have an attendance record at more than one school.

8. As stated earlier, attendance is measured for each pupil in half day sessions. In order to provide information on the actual number of school days missed, these totals have been divided by two. While this is useful to provide an indication of school days missed, it is generally more accurate to report in terms of half days.

Schools are required to be in operation for 190 days in the school year, less any School Development Days (SDDs). Schools can apply for up to five SDDs, which can produce slight variations between the numbers of days individual schools are open to pupils.

9. In some cases, percentages may not add due to rounding.

10. Requests for further information should be addressed to:

Miss Oonagh Cunning

Statistics and Research Branch

Department of Education

Rathgael House

Balloo Road

Bangor

Co. Down

BT19 7PR

Telephone: 028 9127 9438

Fax: 028 9127 9594

Email: oonagh.cunning@deni.gov.uk

11. Media enquiries to the Department of Education Press Office on 028 9127 9701. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699715440 and your call will be returned.

12. The full report and school level attendance rates can be accessed on the Department of Education website.