Young people need to go to school regularly to make the most of it, and some North East schools seem to be doing especially well when it comes to attendance.
Last week, the Government released absence and attendance figures for the full 2023/24 school year. These showed that the overall absence rate - or the percentage of half-days missed for all pupils - still lingered stubbornly above pre-pandemic figures. One in 5 pupils were also classified as ‘persistently absent’ from class, nearly double the pre-pandemic figure.
Another recent Department for Education report has also shone a light on just how important attendance is to attainment. 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 - meaning 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. Now, we’ve created a ranking of the top secondary schools across the North East, with the lowest rates of pupils missing class for any reason.
Although they are included in the data, we’ve left North East middle schools that don't offer GCSEs out of our ranking. All-through schools that do have been included, but it is worth noting that their attendance rates may include primary pupils.
Here were the 15 secondary schools with the lowest absence rates across the region:
1. Great Park Academy
Great Park is a fairly new primary and secondary school in Newcastle, which takes pupils from age 9 through to 16. It currently shares a site with another school, Gosforth Academy, but is set to move to a purpose-built, permanent home later this year. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of just 3.68%. | Google
2. Kings Priory School
Kings Priory is an all-through school in Tynemouth, North Shields. Like many schools with high attendance rates, it boasted excellent performance in the last school year - with its secondary-aged pupils having a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of 5.16%. | Google
3. Marden High School
This is a high-performing secondary school in Cullercoats, North Shields, which also had an ‘above average’ Progress 8 score in the last academic year. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of 5.95%. | Google
4. St Thomas More Catholic School, Blaydon
St Thomas More is a Catholic secondary school and sixth form in Blaydon-on-Tyne, Gateshead. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of 6.09%. | Google