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    • Steps in dealing with attendance
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Persistent absence

A persistent absentee is a pupil who misses at least a fifth of the available sessions in a school for any reason or combination of reasons (whether authorised or unauthorised). For example, it can be a pupil who has a chronic or recurring illness or a pupil who has missed 20% of the school because of a combination of authorised and unauthorised absence. In many schools persistent absence represents missing 64 sessions between September and May or 52 sessions between September and Easter.

Help with persistent absence in schools is available from TeacherNet:
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk /wholeschool/behaviour/truancy/

And on the DfES site:
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/schoo lattendance

The publication Guidance on the Education-related provisions in the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 covers truancy and exclusion and can be downloaded from the Online Publications site.
http://publications.teachern et.gov.uk/default.aspx?PageFunction= productdetails&PageMode=publications&Prod uctId=DfES%2f0234%2f2004&

If you hold a management position, you may want to turn to case studies of good practice in attendance and discipline monitoring.
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk /wholeschool/remodelling/ cuttingburdens/goodprac/gpindex/gpmonitor /