OVER 12 days per year are taken off sick by teachers at a Wirral school – more than three times the average across England.

Teachers at Birkenhead Park School take more time off sick than any other state secondary school across Merseyside, on average.

The figures come from the Department for Education's most recent school census, which gives figures for the 2017/18 academic year.

Closely behind was Kirkby High School in Knowsley, where each teacher had an average 10.9 days off sick over the course of the academic year 2017/18.

That was followed by Childwall Sports and Science Academy in Liverpool, where the average number of sick days taken per teacher was 10.2.

In fourth place was St Mary's Catholic College, a Voluntary Academy in Wirral (8.8 days off sick per teacher), followed by North Liverpool Academy (8.5) and Fazakerley High School in Liverpool (8.3 days).

Across all state schools in Merseyside, the number of average sick days taken per teacher ranged from 4.1 in Wirral to 5.5 in St. Helens.

That figure includes primary schools and nursery providers.

By comparison, the national average across England was 4.0 days.

A spokesperson for Birkenhead Park School, said: "As a small school and staff body with 27 fewer teachers than the Wirral average, we had three members of staff who were absent that year with long term medical conditions, so the absence statistics are disproportionately affected compared to many other schools.

"The data quoted raises questions too, as there are examples of schools with large teaching bodies who actually reported a zero teacher absence rate across the year, which as much as it would seem ideal also seems highly unrealistic.

"Putting aside the methodological issues, if we were to discount the three long term absentees, the number of sick days taken would be halved.

"Part of our ethos both as a school and a place of work is to be as supportive of our staff as we possibly can.

"We have extensive support measures in place for staff, and measures which insulate any staff absences from affecting our students’ learning.

"As many people are aware, including the students at our school and their parents, since becoming part of the BePART Educational Trust, our school has been on a journey of positive transformation, recognised by Ofsted and many others in the education sector.

"Record GCSE results this summer are just one factor that proves this, and all of our teachers support their students to leave our school as successful academics and well-rounded individuals with a huge role to play in the local community."

The government said figures were not available for schools that converted from a local authority school to an academy during the academic year.

They also said some schools with very few teachers had their figures suppressed to protect anonymity and that a small number of schools did not supply data.