A HUDDERSFIELD school had four times the national average rate for truancy in the last school year.

Some 6% of sessions were missed at Fartown High School because of unauthorised absence during Autumn 2008 and Spring 2009 terms, according to new Government statistics.

The national average for state-funded secondary schools for the same period was 1.47%.

Fartown High School, which has 530 pupils, had the highest truancy rate in Kirklees ahead of Newsome High School which had the second highest rate at 3.1%.

Heckmondwike Grammar School fared best in Kirklees with no sessions missed over the same period.

Salendine Nook High School also performed well with just 0.4% of sessions missed because of truancy.

Primary schools in Kirklees fared well with 15 out of 105 primary schools achieving zero truancy and the majority achieving less than 1% of sessions missed because of truancy.

The national average for state primary schools in Autumn 2008 and Spring 2009 terms was 0.65%.

Old Bank JIN School, Mirfield, which has 112 pupils, had the highest rate of unauthorised absence at 2.8%, while Dalton School, with 545 pupils, came second highest at 2.4%.

But both schools insisted the statistics did not reflect the full picture.

A spokesman for Old Bank JIN School said: “A unique set of circumstances led to the abnormally high number of absences at Old Bank School.

“There is a large number of pupils who do not have English as their first language and who have arrived in the area from Eastern Europe in the last 12 months.

“They are from a country where schooling does not begin until the age of seven, so the school has had to work closely with the local authority and with the families themselves to demonstrate the importance of education before that age.

“Strategies put in place over the last year are having an impact and, while the number of children from that community has increased, attendance this academic year is much improved.”

Dalton School headteacher Gillian Lindop added: “We have our community liaison officer to work with absences and we have brought it down considerably.

“Those figures are a year old and if you look at our figures now they are very different.”

The Examiner contacted Fartown High School and Newsome High School but neither were available for comment.