The statistics show that in 2008/9 3.3 per cent of state-funded secondary, primary and special school pupils were classed as being persistent absentees. This was a 0.3 per cent reduction on the previous year's figures.
On average, persistent absentees miss just over a third of lessons, five times the rate for all pupils.
Persistent truancy continues to be more common among special school pupils, those eligible for free school meals and those in Year 11. A third of pupils from traveller communities were classed as persistent truants.
Among areas to see a drop in persistent truancy was Norfolk, where the proportion of secondary school pupils in this group fell from 8.6 per cent during the Autumn term of 2008 to 6.3 per cent during the same term in 2009.
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