Truancy figures in the West Midlands on the increase

Truancy in schools across the West Midlands is getting worse, with more youngsters skipping classes, official figures reveal.

Pupils missed 1.09 per cent of sessions due to unauthorised absences during 2009/10, up from 1.08 per cent the previous year and above the national average of 1.04 per cent.

According to the figures released by the Department for Education, Sandwell was among the worst areas.

A total of 1.82 per cent of half days were missed through unauthorised absences, up from 1.71 per cent in 2008/2009.

In Wolverhampton, pupils skipped 1.27 per cent of sessions, an increase from 1.20 per cent the year before. In Dudley, the truancy rate was 1.32 per cent, up from 1.29 per cent.

Walsall's unauthorised absence figure was 1.03 per cent, up slightly from 1.01 per cent the year before.

Meanwhile the truancy rate in Staffordshire was 0.54 per cent, well below the national average.

Nationally, the unauthorised absence rate decreased to 1.04 per cent from 1.05 per cent in 2008/09. But this is still a 42 per cent increase on 1996-97, when the truancy rate was 0.73 per cent.

The figures showed unauthorised absences in state primary schools reached record levels last year. Pupils missed 0.67 per cent of school sessions due to unauthorised absence in 2009/10 — almost a five per cent increase on 2008/09, when it was 0.64 per cent. Term-time holidays were today blamed for the rising trend.