The school with the biggest attendance problem in the country is also in Yorkshire
The school with the biggest attendance problem in the country is also in Yorkshire(Image: PA Wire/PA Images)
The most poorly-attended schools in England have been revealed – and the very worst is in Yorkshire.
Data from the Department for Education has revealed the unauthorised absence rate of every state-funded secondary school in the country, and according to the latest data the biggest truancy problem is at Fir Vale Academy in Sheffield. Students at the academy missed 17.1 per cent of classes in the 2024/25 academic year – the equivalent of one in every six sessions.
The second worst secondary school for unauthorised absences was Co-op Academy in Leeds, where 13.3 per cent of sessions – nearly one in every eight sessions – were registered as unauthorised absences last year.
You can find out the attendance rates for every school in your area using the interactive gadget below. You can also check the worst 20 list of schools for attendance in the list below.
Across the country, unauthorised absences from school fell for the second time in a row last year. Pupils at state-funded secondaries in England missed the equivalent of around one in 12 days through unauthorised absences in the 2024/25 academic year.
That rate of 8.4 per cent lost “school sessions”, to use the official term, was down from 8.9 per cent in 2023/24 and nine per cent in both 2022/23 and 2021/22. However, it’s still higher than pre-pandemic levels when just 5.5 per cent of sessions were lost to unauthorised absences.
Worst 20 schools in England for truancy
- 1. Fir Vale Academy, Sheffield: 17.1%
- 2. Co-op Academy Leeds, Leeds: 13.3%
- 3. Saint Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic Academy, Knowsley: 13.1%
- 4. The Basildon Upper Academy, Essex: 12.8%
- 5. Alsop High School, Liverpool: 12.7%
- 6. Leeds East Academy, Leeds: 12.5%
- 7. Aylesbury UTC, Buckinghamshire: 12.3%
- 8. Fir Vale School, Sheffield: 11.8%
- 9. Buile Hill Academy, Salford: 11.7%
- 10. Waverley Studio College, Birmingham: 11.6%
- 11. Alvaston Moor Academy, Derby: 11.5%
- 12. Hanson Academy, Bradford: 11.4%
- 13. Kenton School, Newcastle upon Tyne: 11.3%
- 14. Denton Community Academy, Tameside: 11.2%
- 15. Oasis Academy Lord’s Hill, Southampton: 11.1%
- 16. Thrybergh Academy, Rotherham: 11.1%
- 17. Dixons Croxteth Academy, Liverpool: 11.1%
- 18. Heworth Grange School, Gateshead: 11%
- 19. Bradford Academy, Bradford: 11%
- 20. Studio West, Newcastle upon Tyne: 10.9%
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