Missing too much time in class can have a drastic impact on pupil attainment - but some Milton Keynes schools are doing especially well when it comes to encouraging regular attendance.
The Government recently released its latest absence and attendance figures, covering the full 2023/24 school year. Despite showing a small improvement on the year before, the overall absence rate - the percentage of half-days missed for all pupils - remains well above pre-pandemic figures. One in five pupils were also labelled ‘persistently absent’, meaning they missed at least 10% of these half-day sessions.
Another new Department for Education report has highlighted just how much absences could be impacting these young learners - all the way through to secondary school exams. It found pupils who attended school nearly every day in Year 11 were almost twice as likely to achieve a Grade 5 in their English and Maths GCSEs, compared to those who only attended 90 to 95% of the time. This means that missing just 10 days of school reduced the likelihood of getting a strong pass by around 50%.
Included with the Government’s attendance figures was the absence data for each state-funded secondary school in England. This meant we were able to see which schools had the country’s lowest overall absence rates. We’ve also taken a closer look into how schools in the Milton Keynes City Council area fared when it came to their own attendance - creating a league table of state secondary schools with absence rates below 8%.
It is worth noting that private and special schools have not been included. We have included a few all-through schools, and their attendance rates may also include primary pupils.
Here were the 8 city schools that made the cut:
1. Glebe Farm School
This is a fairly new all-through free school in the southeastern Glebe Farm area, which takes pupils up until the age of 16 - when most sit their GCSEs. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a low absence rate of just 5.38%. | Google
2. Denbigh School
This is a secondary academy and sixth form in Shenley Church End, with an ‘above average’ GCSEs-based Progress 8 score in the last academic year. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of about 6.2%. | Google
3. Oakgrove School
Oakgrove is another all-through academy, in the Middleton area. It too boasted an ‘above average’ Progress 8 score last year. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of 6.46%. | Google
4. Watling Academy
Watling is a secondary free school and sixth form in the Whitehouse area. It too is fairly new, only having opened to students in 2020. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of 7.13%. | Google