St.Michaels Catholic Grammar North Finchley

[Greenleopard]

Looking at this school as an option but came across their persistent absence rate. It is nearly 20% which seems very high. Can anyone shed any light on this? If your dd attends this school have you noticed a problem with attendance?
Thanks

Parent here, spanning different year groups.

I'm not doubting you but this doesn't seem right to me at all. Where did you read this?

As a parent, I see the odd child who might leave to go abroad a day or two early for summer but it frowned upon and rarely approved. But that's a long way from 80% which means a fifth of kids aren't in school! That doesn't resonate here at all.

It's kind of fake news, I thought. My DD was there albeit many moons ago and I was throughly impressed with the discipline there if nothing else. I personally saw with my own eyes how discipline was enforced e.g. girls asked to turn back at the school gate and return to their classes to adjust their uniforms before they leave the school; how the then deputy Head stormed into nearby MacDonalds to disperse a group of St Michael's girls gathered there to generally make a nuisance of thenselves, etc.

This was on secondary catchment website. It's also on the Department for Eduction website. It's very strange I agree.

This is from gov.uk website... I don't understand how it can be that number? Must be a glitch?

That is bizarre it's on the official website!
It must be a glitch in how the tallies work.

Have looked at other schools to see and they are all below 10%.

Phone and ask them! They're very open so I'm sure will answer.
I suspect they've done something stupid like taken the pupil count in year 7/8 (128) as average, rather than factoring in the pupil count in year 9/10/11 (96). It is implausible that the attendance is 80%!!