Attendance - What is persistent and severe absence?

If a child misses a lot of school— 10% or more, about 1 day out of every 10—they are called a persistent absentee. This can make it really hard to keep up with learning, so we need parents/carers to help make sure their child comes to school as much as possible.

If a child misses half or more (50%+) of the school days, they are called severely absent. These children might have bigger challenges getting to school and may need extra help and support.

As a school we monitor children's attendance data on a fortnightly basis so our attendance team can look at the level of attendance for those children who are classed as severely absent, persistent absent and at risk of persistent absence (when attendance is 92% or less). All absence including that for illness and medical appointments counts towards the Government's figures for persistent and severely absent. From May 2025, once we have undertaken our fortnightly checks we will be contacting families when their child reaches any of these thresholds to see what we can do to support and work in partnership with families for their child's attendance.