Across Leicestershire, some of the highest performing schools in last year’s GCSE exam season also excelled in another important measure.
Regular attendance is important, and as it turns out, it can have a big impact on pupil attainment. A recent Department for Education report has 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 as those who only attended 90 to 95% of the time. In other words, missing just 10 days of school cuts the likelihood of getting a strong pass by around 50%.
But according to the Government’s latest absence and attendance figures for the most recent 2023/24 school year, England’s overall absence rate - the percentage of half-days missed for all pupils - still lingers well above pre-pandemic figures. The amount of ‘persistently absent’ pupils missing at least 10% of these half-day sessions also remains high - affecting 1 in 5 children.
We’ve looked into how schools across the Leicester City and Leicestershire County Council areas have done when it comes to pupils missing class for any reason, to create a list of those doing especially well in this regard. Only schools with absence rates of 7% or lower have been included - excluding private and special schools - many of which were also amongst Leicestershire’s top performers.
Here were the 14 schools that made the grade:
1. Madani Girls’ School
At the top of the list is Madani Girls’ School, a local authority-maintained Islamic girls' secondary school in Leicester, which shares a site with Madani Boys School. It boasts a very high academic performance, with the highest GCSEs-based Progress 8 scores in the East Midlands last year. In the 2023/24 school year, it had a low overall absence rate of just 4.65%. | Google
2. English Martyrs' Catholic School
Next up is this Catholic secondary academy and sixth form, also in Leicester. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an overall absence rate of 4.82%. | Google
3. Madani Boys’ School
Like its counterpart, Madani Boys’ is a high-achieving local authority-maintained Islamic secondary school. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an overall absence rate of 5.51%. | Google
4. Soar Valley College
Another Leicester-based secondary academy, Soar Valley is also a high performer with a ‘well above average’ Progress 8 score - the highest band available. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an overall absence rate of 5.58%. | Google