This bulletin was originally published 14 August 2020.

Overview

Student attendance has been demonstrated to be linked to student academic outcomes, although the nature of the link is complex. CESE’s Government School Student Attendance 2019 bulletin summarises attendance rates by:

• student level of education
• Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students
• distribution of student attendance
• scholastic year
• proportion of students attending 90% or more of the time
• reasons for absence.

CESE’s analysis of Semester 1 2019 attendance data indicates that the average attendance rate for NSW government schools was 90.8 per cent, but varied widely across a number of contextual factors.

Main findings

• Attendance rates fell slightly in 2019.
• Attendance rates are lower in secondary grades than in primary grades.
• Attendance is lowest on Fridays.
• 72.6% of students attended 90% or more of the time, 25.8% attended 98% or more.
• Days lost through approved leave accounted for the highest proportion of explained.