1000s of school days lost
Schools across the Cannock area are seeing their students take thousands of days off every year, an investigation by the Express & Star has revealed.
In some schools as many as 20,000 days a year are being lost by students taking time off. Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show truancy across the area is also on the rise putting youngsters education and future at risk.
In some cases the equivalent of over 50 calendar years are being lost in just one academic school year because of pupils taking time off for holidays, sickness, work experience or truancy.
In 2003/04 the number of unauthorised sessions, which are half-days off, for truancy was 17,176. A year later it rose to 19,666 and 12 months on it jumped to 22,904. This is equal to 30 years lost through pupils illegally missing school in just one year.
Headteachers today admitted the figures are not good enough and they claimed to be working hard to turn the situation around.
Bosses at Staffordshire County Council said that although there were problems in some schools attendance across Staffordshire is above average at 93 per cent.
Across the area the worst school overall was Wolgarston High School, in Cannock Road, Penkridge which saw its average number of session absences per pupil rise by half from 16 half-days in 2003/04 to 32 in 2005/06.
But headteacher Philip Tapp said the problem had been recognised and claimed next year's figures will show a complete turnaround.
