Record number of pupils skip school

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Nearly 273,000 pupils missed at least one day of school every week through truancy, illness and other reasons.

The total rate of absence fell to its lowest level, with children in primary and secondary schools missing 6.49% of sessions during 2006-07.

But the rate of "unauthorised absence" - used to judge truancy - rose to its highest on record, with pupils away for 1% of all school sessions. This was up from 0.92% the previous year, the Department for Children, Schools and Families said.

The unauthorised absence figure meant about 63,000 pupils were skipping class in England's schools on a typical day.

For the first time the figures provided details of the reasons why pupils missed school during the year.

Illness was by far the biggest reason for pupils not attending class, with 55% of all absence down to sickness.

But the second most common reason was children taking family holidays during term time with the permission of the school. Agreed family holidays accounted for 10% of all school absence, with unauthorised holidays making up a further 1% of the total.

Headteachers claimed the rise in unauthorised absence was down to schools taking a tougher approach, particularly to term-time holidays.

John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "Schools work extremely hard to raise attendance and get persistent truants back into school. This can only be successful if parents co-operate with the school and ensure that their child is there every day."