Pupils taking days off for birthdays and Christmas shopping has been likened to a 'Scouse legend'.
Cllr Liz Makinson, Liberal Democrat, made the claim after Jonathan Jones, Liverpool Council director of education and skills, revealed that by cutting out three extra days off, the city's issues with persistent absenteeism could be cut in half.
Mr Jones said attendances still posed “a challenge” for the council, centred around children taking “the birthday day off, day off for Christmas shopping”.
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He said those randomly taken days off, usually around the end of term times, was having a “massive impact”, to which Cllr Makinson replied: “Taking a day off has become a bit of a Scouse legend”.
Mr Jones also told the committee that the number of pupils excluded since September last year was “disconcerting”.
A total of 42 students have been permanently removed from city schools since the 2021/22 school year began, which the director described as “far higher than where we want to be” but lower than a previous high of 74 in 2019/20.
The performance of secondary schools in terms of Ofsted inspection also won praise from Mr Jones.
The schools inspectorate currently rates just 60% of Liverpool’s secondary sites as good or above, an improvement Mr Jones said, on 2020 when only half of schools could achieve such a status.
He said: “We can see some improvement and we’re heading in the right direction.”
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