It likely comes as no shock to parents that children typically need to regularly attend school, in order to not only ace important exams - but also make the most of their education.
But a recent Department for Education report has highlighted just how attendance matters to attainment - with the start of this year’s summer exam season now just days away. It found that 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 meant that missing just 10 days of school reduced the likelihood of getting a strong pass by around 50%.
The Government has now released its absence and attendance figures for the full 2023/24 school year. Despite showing a small improvement on last year, the overall absence rate - the percentage of half-days missed for all pupils - still lingers 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.
Included with the Government’s attendance figures was the absence data for every state-funded secondary school in England. We’ve used this to take a closer look at how Bedfordshire’s schools did - across the Central Bedfordshire, Bedford, and Luton Borough Council areas.
Only schools with absence rates below 7.5% have been included on our list - a phenomenal achievement for any school community. Private and special schools are also not included, and we’ve left out middle schools that don’t teach pupils up until Year 11, when they sit their GCSEs. Eagle-eyed parents will also notice many of those that made the list were also among the county’s top performers in last year’s GCSE season.
Here were the 12 local secondary schools that met our criteria:
1. Putteridge High School
Putteridge is a secondary academy in Luton. It is a high academic performer, and in the last academic year it had an ‘above average’ GCSEs-based Progress 8 score. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a low absence rate of just 4.99%. | Google
2. Challney High School for Girls
This is another high-performing secondary academy in Luton, for girls. It had a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score last year, shared by only 17% of state-funded schools. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of 5.68%. | Google
3. Denbigh High School
Yet another Luton secondary academy, Denbigh High had one of the highest Progress 8 scores in Bedfordshire last year. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of 5.86%. | Google
4. Pix Brook Academy
Pix Brook is a fairly new free school in Stotfold, Central Bedfordshire, that takes pupils from the age of 9 through to 16, when they typically sit their GCSEs. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of 5.93%. | Google