-More than 5,000 children in Bury were absent for more than 10 per cent of school lessons in the past year, new figures show. Figures published by Bury Council reveal a fifth of students in the borough were persistently absent from school.
Persistent absence is defined as missing 10 per cent or more sessions which would equate to missing a minimum of 14.5 days over the school year. Under this criteria a fifth of Bury pupils (more than 5,000) missed on average almost three weeks of learning time in schools.
Education chiefs in the borough said ‘absence is too high’ and that they were committed to getting the level of attendance at at school back to pre-pandemic levels. The figures also show that total absence from school has risen by more than three days a year per pupil since the Covid pandemic.
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Bury Council have published data comparing absence figures from 2018/19, the last full year of in-school education before mandatory closure periods, to the year 2021/22, where schools remained open throughout. The figures show that total absence at all Bury schools was 6.9 per cent, up from 4.5 per cent in 2018/19.
That means an average additional 6.5 sessions were missed per pupil over most recent academic year, which in turn is just more than three school days. Absence levels in all phases of primary and secondary education rose, with primary schools seeing the lowest increase and special schools the highest.
Absence in Bury primary schools remains below national figures and saw a smaller increase between 2018/2019 and 2021/22. Absence in secondary schools was slightly higher than national level in 2018/19 and is now below the national average in 2021/22, having increased by a smaller percentage than national in that period.
In a report to a Bury Council scrutiny committee, Coun Lucy Smith, cabinet member for children and education, said: “Our priority is to improve attendance, initially, to at least pre-pandemic levels. Attendance figures for Bury schools overall are better than the national level which reflects schools’ hard work.
“However, the fact remains that absence is too high and, initially, the collective focus needs to be on improving overall absence to pre-pandemic levels and reducing the number of children and young people that are classed as either persistently or severely absent.”
The report said that the local authority would rigorously track local attendance data and continue the work of the school attendance support team which provides support for families, uses legal intervention and monitors and improves the attendance of some children with a social worker.
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