Pupils who miss the first days of school at the start of term have poorer attendance than their peers overall, according to new analysis.
In a new report from children’s commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza, figures show that pupils with unauthorised absence on any day of the first week of term have an overall unauthorised absence rate of 25%.
The analysis of around 32,000 children from three multi-academy trusts also showed that pupils who missed the second, third and fourth day of a new term were predicted to record an overall absence of around 43%, or 30 days across the term, “significantly more than their peers who attended those first few days”.
