The number of pupils persistently missing school in Islington dropped by a third last year, according to figures released by the Department for Education.

Only 605 school children missed school for a significant periods in the 2013/14 school year compared to 915 the previous 12 months.

The improvement is greater than that on a national level with 300,895 persistent absentees in 2012/13 compared to 233,815 last year.

Islington is also below the the national average in terms of the percentage of school pupils who miss school on a regular basis, with 3.1 per cent persistently absent compared to 3.6pc across the UK.

Jan Tallis, chief executive of School-Home Support, said: “Despite this good news, I am concerned about the disparity in attendance for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Children eligible for free school meals are over three times more likely to be persistently absent from schools than their classmates from wealthier families.”