School Attendance and Exclusions

Pupil Absence

Overall state-funded primary, secondary and special school pupil absence (authorised and unauthorised, and accounting for the percentage of possible sessions missed) was 4.9% in Somerset in 2016/17, marginally above the national rate of 4.7%. Primary school absence in Somerset was 4.2% and Secondary school absence was 5.7%.

The Persistent Absence rate (that is, the proportion of pupils missing 10% or more possible sessions) was 8.2% in Somerset primary schools and 14.8% in secondary schools in 2016/17, with both rates above national averages.

Pupil Absence and Persistent Absence, Somerset 2013/14 to 2016/17

		Primary		Secondary
		Overall absence	Persistent Absence rate*	Overall absence	Persistent Absence rate*
2013/14	England	3.9%	1.9%	5.2%	5.3%
2013/14	Somerset	4.0%	1.9%	5.2%	5.3%
2014/15	England	4.0%	2.1%	5.3%	5.4%
2014/15	Somerset	4.0%	1.9%	5.2%	5.1%
2015/16	England	4.0%	8.2%	5.2%	13.1%
2015/16	Somerset	4.0%	7.6%	5.3%	13.1%
2016/17	England	4.0%	8.3%	5.4%	13.5%
2016/17	Somerset	4.2%	8.2%	5.7%	14.8%

Source: Department for Education. State-funded schools.

*The definition of persistent absence changed from the 2015/16 academic year. Pupils missing 10% or more of possible sessions (due to authorised or unauthorised absence) are classified as persistent absentees. Prior to 2015/16 the benchmark was 15%.

Exclusions from School

In 2016/17, there were 4,985 fixed period exclusions from Somerset state-funded primary, secondary and special schools, representing a rate of 7.20 (expressed as a percentage of the number of pupils on roll). This was a higher rate than the national average rate of 4.76.

In 2016/17, there were 92 permanent exclusions from Somerset schools, representing a rate of 0.13. This was above the national average rate (0.10).

Fixed Term and Permanent Exclusion rates, 2013/14 to 2016/17

		Primary		Secondary
		Fixed Period Exclusion rate	Permanent Exclusion rate	Fixed Period Exclusion rate	Permanent Exclusion rate
2013/14	England	1.02	0.02	6.62	0.13
2013/14	Somerset	1.62	0.02	6.16	0.10
2014/15	England	1.10	0.02	7.51	0.15
2014/15	Somerset	1.74	0.02	7.57	0.10
2015/16	England	1.21	0.02	8.46	0.17
2015/16	Somerset	2.11	0.03	9.25	0.17
2016/17	England	1.37	0.03	9.40	0.20
2016/17	Somerset	2.35	0.03	13.02	0.27

Source: Department for Education

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70.5% of working age people in Somerset are qualified to at least Level 2 on the National Qualifications Framework (equivalent to 5 GCSEs at grades A* to C), higher than the national average of 67.3%.