Attendance reached a low of 75 percent on the final day of term. Photo: Unsplash
Daily school attendance averaged 85 percent last term, about the same figure as in the previous school term.
Education Ministry figures showed daily attendance exceeded 88 percent twice at the start of the third term in July and dropped to a low of 75 percent last Friday, the final day of the term.
On that day, 581,001 students were in class out of 773,956 who should have been there and unjustified absences jumped to 12 percent.
Schools had reported high levels of winter illness last term.
The figures showed absences due to illness ran from 7-8 percent for much of term 3, spiking on Fridays and reaching a high of 10 percent on 8 August.
In term 2, absence due to illness reached 10 percent on the last day of the term, when daily attendance dropped to 73 percent and the daily average for the entire term was about 86 percent.
Daily attendance needed to remain at 94 percent in order to meet the government's target of 80 percent of students attending more than 90 percent of their classes.
The figures showed primary schools with children from well-off neighbourhoods of Marlborough, Southland and Manawatu-Whanganui reached a daily rate of 94 percent in the third term, and only for 1-3 days at the start of the term.
Nationally, schools with students facing few socio-economic barriers had daily attendance of 86-91 percent during most of term 3, while schools with students facing more barriers had daily attendance of 76-83 percent for most of the term.
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