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:
7. Mount St Mary's Catholic High School
Mount St Mary’s is a Catholic secondary school in Leeds. It is another of West Yorkshire’s high-achievers, with a strong ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score in the most recent school year. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of 5.23%. | Google
8. St Francis Xavier School
St Francis Xavier is an exceptionally high-performing ecumenical secondary school in Richmond, North Yorkshire. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of 5.24%. | Google
9. Scissett Middle School
Although not technically a secondary school, this middle school in Scissett - between Huddersfield and Barnsley in West Yorkshire - does teach pupils for some of their early secondary years. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of 5.32%. | Google
10. Kingswood Academy
Kingswood is another East Yorkshire secondary school, in Hull, boasting an ‘above average’ Progress 8 score. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of 5.64%. | Google
11. Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School
Cardinal Heenan is a Catholic secondary school in Leeds. Yet another example of high attendance aligned with high performance, it had a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score last year. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of 5.65%. | Google
12. Ripon Grammar School
This is a selective secondary school and sixth form in Ripon, North Yorkshire. It once again had an academically successful year, with a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score to show for it. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an absence rate of 5.68%. | Google