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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 5.1% in Somerset in 2018/19, marginally above the national rate of 4.9%. Primary school absence in Somerset was 4.3% and Secondary school absence was 6.0%.
The Persistent Absence rate (that is, the proportion of pupils missing 10% or more possible sessions) was 8.3% in Somerset primary schools and 14.8% in secondary schools in 2018/19, with both rates above national averages.
Pupil Absence and Persistent Absence, Somerset 2016/17 to 2018/19
| State-funded primary | State-funded secondary | ||||
| Overall absence rate | Percentage of persistent absentees | Overall absence rate | Percentage of persistent absentees | ||
| 2016/17 | Somerset | 4.2% | 8.2% | 5.7% | 14.8% |
| England | 4.0% | 8.3% | 5.4% | 13.5% | |
| 2017/18 | Somerset | 4.3% | 8.3% | 6.0% | 15.2% |
| England | 4.2% | 8.7% | 5.5% | 13.9% | |
| 2018/19 | Somerset | 4.3% | 8.3% | 6.0% | 14.8% |
| England | 4.0% | 8.2% | 5.5% | 13.7% | |
Source: Department for Education. State-funded schools.
Exclusions from School
In 2018/19, there were 6,855 fixed period exclusions from Somerset state-funded primary, secondary and special schools, representing an exclusion rate of 9.71 (expressed as a percentage of the number of pupils on roll). This was a higher rate than the national average rate of 5.36.
In 2018/19, there were 99 permanent exclusions from Somerset schools, representing a rate of 0.14. This was above the national average rate (0.10).
Fixed Term and Permanent Exclusion rates, 2016/17 to 2018/19
| State-funded primary | State-funded secondary | ||||
| Fixed period exclusions (rate) | Permanent exclusions (rate) | Fixed period exclusions (rate) | Permanent exclusions (rate) | ||
| 2016/17 | Somerset | 2.35 | 0.03 | 13.02 | 0.27 |
| England | 1.37 | 0.03 | 9.40 | 0.20 | |
| 2017/18 | Somerset | 2.15 | 0.05 | 14.30 | 0.30 |
| England | 1.40 | 0.03 | 10.13 | 0.20 | |
| 2018/19 | Somerset | 3.21 | 0.04 | 18.37 | 0.28 |
| England | 1.41 | 0.02 | 10.75 | 0.20 | |
Source: Department for Education
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