Exams are taken by pupils at the end of key stage 4 (KS4), with this key stage typically being taught over two years (from year 10 to year 11). In this release we have considered KS4 attainment in English and maths GCSEs and the English Baccalaureate (EBacc). GCSE grades range from 9-1, with 9 being the highest. The EBacc consists of five components - English, maths, science, a language and history or geography. See the methodology for further detail on how attainment is measured at the end of KS4.
Overall absence rate over the key stage by attainment in KS4
Pupils with higher KS4 attainment in 2019 had lower levels of absence over the key stage compared to those with lower attainment.
Pupils who did not achieve grade 9 to 4 in English and maths GCSEs in 2019 had an overall absence rate of 8.8% over the key stage, compared with 5.2% among pupils who achieved a grade 4 and 3.7% among pupils who achieved grade 9 to 5 in both English and maths (see Figure 4).
Pupils who did not achieve grade 9 to 4 in all components of the EBacc in 2019 had an overall absence rate of 6.6% over the key stage, compared with 3.7% among pupils who achieved a grade 4 and 3.1% among pupils who achieved grade 9 to 5 in all components (see Figure 5).
Attainment in key stage 4 qualifications by levels of overall absence split into percentage point bands
The higher the percentage of sessions missed across key stage 4 (KS4), the lower the level of attainment at the end of the key stage (see Figure 6).
Persistent and severe absence
A pupil is considered persistently absent if they miss 10% or more of their possible sessions over the key stage and severely absent if they miss 50% or more possible sessions.
Pupils who were persistently or severely absent had lower levels of attainment at the end of KS4 than other pupils:
- Of those pupils who were persistently absent, 35.6% achieved grade 9 to 4 in English and maths. Among severely absent pupils, this figure was 11.3%. This compares to 83.7% of pupils with no missed sessions and 76.3% who missed between 0 and 5%.
- Similarly, 16.8% of persistently absent pupils and 5.0% of severely absent pupils achieved grade 9 to 5 in English and maths compared to 66.4% of pupils with no missed sessions and 54.4% who missed between 0 and 5%.
- Among persistently absent pupils, 4.0% achieved grade 9 to 5 in all components of the EBacc. This figure was 0.3% for severely absent pupils. This compares to 33.9% of pupils with no missed sessions and 23.1% who missed between 0 and 5%.
Attainment in key stage 4 qualifications by levels of overall absence split into pupil percentile bands
Figure 7 shows an alternative representation of the information, showing key stage 4 (KS4) attainment by levels of overall absence split into bands with equal numbers of pupils. See the methodology for further information on how the data has been grouped.
Figure 7 shows a steady decrease in KS4 achievement as overall absence rates increase. For example, 83.3% of pupils with the lowest five percent of overall absence achieved grade 9 to 4 in English and maths compared to 24.1% of pupils with the highest five percent of overall absence rates. Similarly, of those pupils with the lowest five percent of overall absence, 65.5% achieved grade 9 to 5 in English and maths compared with 10.4% of those with the highest five percent of overall absence.
This difference in achievement is also apparent within the English Baccalaureate, where 32.4% of pupils with the lowest five percent of absence achieved grade 9 to 5 in all components of the EBacc, compared with 1.5% of pupils with the highest five percent of overall absence.