TWO Basildon schools have been named among the worst in the country over "truancy issues" –with one taking the top spot nationwide.

The Basildon Upper Academy has been named and shamed as having the highest “unauthorised absence” rate in England, with its sister school the Lower Academy ranked fourth.

Roughly one in six, or 16 per cent of school sessions – defined as half a day of school – were missed by pupils at the Upper Academy while this was 14 per cent for the Lower Academy.

Council leader Gavin Callaghan branded the issue a “crisis that goes beyond education” and wrote to Basildon Academies Trust and Essex County Council calling for a task force to be set up. Both the trust and the county council have said they are working on the issue.

Mr Callaghan said: “It is about the future of our young people, the health of our community, and the strength of our local economy.

“Truancy rates in these schools are simply unacceptable and educational attainment in the borough is flatlining.

“If we don’t act now, we risk condemning an entire generation to unemployment, poverty, and disengagement. It’s going to take all of us – parents, businesses, key partners – to get behind our young people and give them the support they need.”

The trust hit back at Mr Callaghan’s use of the phrase “truancy” and also highlighted praise from Ofsted for the work taking place to support pupils to attend school “more regularly”.

A spokesman added: “Unauthorised absence from school is when a child is not in attendance without prior approval from the school. Essentially, we as schools are not authorising the decision for the child to be absent. It is different from the traditional term ‘truancy’ which implies a child is missing school without parental permission. We continue to work on driving further change and supporting pupil attendance is a key priority of our academy improvement plans.”

Tony Ball, councillor for education at Essex County Council, added: “Individual Trusts and schools set their own absence policies, and how absences are recorded can have an impact on whole school figures.

“In this case, the school currently has a policy where an ‘unauthorised absence’ refers to any absence for any reason which has not been formally evidenced by parents. This is not the same as truancy. This policy is not the same for all Trusts.

“School is not optional. Every child has the right to access quality education and parents have a legal duty to ensure regular attendance. We take pupil attendance very seriously, and improving it is a key priority for all schools across Essex.

“Our Attendance Specialist Team advises schools to encourage early engagement with families. The team are already working closely with Basildon Upper Academy and Lower Academy, having met on two separate occasions this half term.

“While we agree with Basildon Borough Council that school attendance has never been more crucial, they have no direct responsibility or involvement in this area, and are therefore not fully informed on the work already being done in schools or behind the scenes.  However, we are more than happy to talk to Basildon about our work with the Trust."