There has been an increase of 7,000 in the number of primary age pupils in England identified as "persistent absentees", the latest figures show.

More than 6% of secondary pupils also missed more than a fifth of lessons.

In seven local authorities more than one in 10 secondary pupils were persistently absent.

There was a slight decline in overall absenteeism, from 6.44% to 6.26%, prompted by a fall in authorised absences such as family holidays.

The overall rate of unauthorised absence remains the same as last year

The Department for Schools, Children and Families highlighted that in secondary schools, the number of persistent absentees had fallen by 14,800.

The figures, showing children missing school in autumn term 2007 and spring 2008, record that almost 10 million half-day sessions were missed in unauthorised absences.

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