This chart shows the government is 100% right to be strict about school attendance


Read your child's end of school report yet? Don't skip the attendance section.

This data proves that school attendance has a direct impact on how your child will perform in school.

This chart, compiled using data from the Department for Education by School Guide, the data-driven site aimed at helping parents get the best result for their school age children, shows unequivocally that pupils at schools with the best attendance record also get the best results.

An exception is Outwood Academy Portland where 12% of pupils can have 38 or more recorded half days of absence and still achieve 100%.

Recently, the government has come under fire for fining parents for taking their children on holiday in term time. In Devon, 900 fines were handed out to parents in this past academic year.

But evidence overwhemingly shows the government is right: allowing children to regularly miss school is hugely detrimental to their education.

According to the government's report on school attendance: “Central to ensuring all pupils can fulfil their potential is an assumption so widely understood that it is insufficiently stated – pupils need to attend school regularly to benefit from their education.”