Schools pause for half-term this week after a start to the school year that has been disrupted by the “crumbly concrete” crisis.

This, of course, remains a priority for schools affected and we urge the government to help them address the issue as quickly as possible, while also agreeing on a long-term plan to repair and improve all school buildings.

However, this regrettable situation has understandably distracted public attention from underlying problems affecting children’s school attendance.

Persistent problem

This came into sharp focus last week with new data on pupil absence rates for the 2022-23 autumn and spring terms.

Despite a small decrease compared with the same period the previous year, persistent absence across both terms remains double pre-pandemic levels - with 17.3 per cent of primary school pupils and 25.2 per cent of mainstream secondary school students missing 10 per cent or more school sessions. The respective figures were 8.4 per cent and 12.7 per cent in 2018-19.

Severe absence, where pupils miss 50 per cent of sessions, rose to 1.9 per cent across all schools, up from 0.8 per cent in 2018-19 and from 1.5 per cent in 2021-22.

We haven’t always seen eye to eye with the education secretary over the last year. But one thing school leaders agree with her upon is that children need to be in school. Consistent attendance is essential for pupils’ learning and social development.

Issue for all

Despite schools’ incredible efforts to continue opening schools for vulnerable children during the pandemic, the unavoidable disruption has clearly harmed attendance in the long run.

Physical illness has played a part and homeworking makes it easier for some parents to keep children at home if they aren’t feeling 100 per cent.

However, there has also been more anxiety and mental ill-health among children, while poverty, which can also fuel school absence, had already grown in the decade before the pandemic and then during the cost-of-living crisis.

Families may be unable to afford transport to school, properly fitting uniform or learning materials, while unsuitable living arrangements may make it harder for children to sleep, focus on homework or access public transport.

Issues at home, like domestic abuse, substance misuse or acting as a young carer, can also harm attendance.

Despite the complexity and far-reaching causes of these issues, pupil absence has long been seen as a problem schools should fix.

‘Boots on the ground’

However, it is clear these challenges extend beyond the school gates. They are the responsibility of all society, ranging from the government and social care to the NHS, parents and carers. They require a multi-agency, cross-governmental response.

There are encouraging signs the government acknowledges this. The NAHT school leaders’ union attends the Attendance Action Alliance, which brings together ministers, civil servants and representatives of local government, the health service, charities and unions to try to improve school attendance.

However, we also need increased investment in services that support children and families, no matter where they live. Help must arrive early, too - before challenges in their lives impact school attendance.

Unfortunately, the support that councils, the health service and other partners can offer has been unable to meet increasing demand, and, in fact, many councils have reduced non-statutory early support amid government cuts, and teams that previously supported schools with attendance have been decimated.

While the appointment of new teams of Department for Education advisers to support local authorities and multi-academy trusts to improve attendance was welcome, ultimately we need “boots on the ground”, too.

That means teams that knock on doors, support families and agree action plans. Schools cannot do these things “on the side”.

Many areas also do not benefit from the government’s attendance hubs, which aim to share best practice and resources, or its pilot mentoring programme for persistently absent pupils.

New ideas needed

The recent Commons Education Select Committee report on persistent absence has some welcome recommendations, including rolling out attendance mentors across the country and the introduction of a national register of children who are educated at home - something the NAHT has long called for.

The report also urges the government to provide the funding to properly deliver its planned special educational needs and disabilities reforms to help local authorities and schools better support pupils whose unmet additional needs contribute to absence.

It also rightly recommends that fining parents whose children miss school should be a last resort, urging a greater focus instead on addressing underlying causes of absence.

All of this should be part of a government-led strategy to help ensure services coordinate efforts to help children and families - backed by the new investment so that support is guided by children’s needs, not finite resources.

That means both expanding schemes to improve pupil attendance and offering broader early help for families from local authorities and the health service.

If that can be achieved, I am genuinely hopeful we can all play our part in tackling this issue and ensuring all children get the sustained and consistent education they need to flourish.

Paul Whiteman is general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union