The short answers
What is persistent absence?
A pupil is persistently absent if they miss 10% or more of their own possible sessions, for any reason, authorised or unauthorised. A school day is two sessions, so over a full school year of 190 days, 380 sessions, that is 38 sessions or more, the equivalent of 19 days.
What is severe absence?
A pupil is severely absent if they miss 50% or more of their possible sessions: absent more often than they are in school. Severely absent pupils are also counted as persistently absent.
How is persistent absence worked out?
From sessions, not days or percentages rounded along the way: the sessions a pupil missed divided by the sessions they could have attended, from when they joined the school to the date of the figure. A pupil who joined in January is measured on the sessions since January.
What is the national average for persistent absence?
The DfE publishes it for every phase and pupil group, and it changes each year. The latest figures are on our school attendance national averages page, which updates itself from the DfE's own releases.
Reaching pupils before they cross the line
The figure is a count of pupils already past it. The useful work is with the pupils who are not yet.
Watch the pupils just above 90%
A pupil at 91% and falling is more urgent than one at 88% and climbing. Knowing the direction, as well as the figure, is what makes the call home timely.
Look for the quick wins
Pupils within a couple of points of coming back above 90%, where a few good weeks change the picture and are worth telling the family about.
Count who moved in and who moved out
The number persistently absent can stay flat while children cross the line in both directions, which are two very different terms described by one figure.
Look at the groups
Disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND are more often persistently absent nationally, so each group against the same group in England says more than the whole-school figure.
The latest national figures, for every phase and pupil group, are on school attendance national averages.
Where this comes from
- Working together to improve school attendanceThe DfE's statutory guidance, 2026 edition: what schools, trusts and local authorities are expected to do.
- Pupil absence in schools in EnglandThe DfE's statistics for each full year, including absence by pupil characteristics.
- Pupil attendance in schoolsThe DfE's fortnightly statistics for the year in progress.
Related guides: school attendance national averages, unauthorised and authorised absence, improving attendance in schools. Every guide is listed on the guides page.
Who is heading for persistent absence, before they get there
adsum works persistent and severe absence out the way the DfE does, from session counts, and lists the pupils above 90% but falling, the quick wins close to coming back, and who moved in and out since the last export.
Or ask us for a trial on your own school's data.