From York to Sheffield, Leeds to Hull, many of Yorkshire’s highest-achieving secondary schools also seem to excel at supporting young people to be in class - as often as possible.
Last week, the Government released the overall 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.
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 Yorkshire, when it comes to having the lowest rate of pupils missing class for any reason in the last full school year.
Yorkshire families will likely recognise some of these schools as being among the region’s top achievers. A recent Department for Education report showed just how important regular 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%.
Here were the 13 Yorkshire secondary schools that boasted the highest attendance rates - and the lowest absences:
1. Mercia School
Mercia is a secondary school and sixth form in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, known for having incredibly high standards and rules for pupil behaviour. It had the second highest Progress 8 score of any school in England last year - and also earned a spot on our list of the country’s overall top schools for attendance. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of just 3.27%. | Google
2. Heckmondwike Grammar School
This is a selective secondary school and sixth form in Heckmondwike. In the Kirklees borough, West Yorkshire. Another high performing school, it too had a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score last year. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of 3.7%. | Google
3. Ron Dearing UTC
Ron Dearing is a university technical college in Hull, East Yorkshire, which takes pupils from the age of 14 through to the sixth form. It has ties to the University of Hull. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of 3.86%. | Google
4. St Mary's College, Kingston upon Hull
St Mary’s is a Catholic secondary school and sixth form, also in Hull. It too is a high performer, with a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score in the last school year. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of 4.67%. | Google