The proportion of pupils who were persistently absent from school last term was more than one-fifth, according to government data published today.
The figures reveal the number of pupils missing a significant amount of school has remained stubbornly high despite a recent government drive to tackle low attendance.
While the number of pupils who were out of the classroom for 10 or more half-day sessions last term fell slightly compared with the same term in the previous academic year - from 23.8 per cent to 20.1 per cent - it is still far higher than the 13.1 per cent persistently absent in the last pre-pandemic autumn term.
Meanwhile, a third of pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) were persistently absent last term, falling to 33 per cent, from 36.7 per cent the previous year, but still far higher than the 23.8 per cent recorded pre-pandemic.
The overall absence rate for disadvantaged pupils was 10.4 per cent last term, almost double the 5.5 per cent recorded for their peers.
Persistent absence rates are higher across secondary schools, the data shows.
Nearly a quarter (24.6 per cent) of secondary pupils hit the persistent absence threshold of missing 10 or more half-day sessions of school last term, down from 27.1 per cent in 2022-23, but far higher than the 15 per cent of 2019-20.
Persistent absence in primary schools fell from 20.5 per cent to 16.1 per cent year on year, closer to the 11.2 per cent recorded in the same period pre-pandemic.
And persistent absence in special schools, which has always been higher than in other settings, remained at more than a third last term, falling from 40.1 per cent to 36.4 per cent year on year. However, this is still far above the 30 per cent of pupils recorded as persistently absent in the last pre-pandemic autumn term.
‘Boots on ground’ needed to tackle absence crisis
The children’s commissioner for England has previously warned that the “crisis of attendance” is the “biggest problem” facing education policymakers and schools.
Last year, 138,905 pupils were classed as “severely” absent in the 2022-23 autumn and spring terms combined - 26 per cent higher than the levels seen in the previous academic year (110,470), and well over double the numbers seen before the pandemic in 2018-19 (57,167).
Earlier this month, the Department for Education announced 18 more school attendance hubs and a £15-million expansion of its mentor programme for persistently absent children.
And Labour has said it would use artificial intelligence to spot trends in absence as part of its long-term plans to tackle ongoing high levels of non-attendance.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union the NAHT, said that today’s figures “underline the need for the government to invest far more in tackling persistent absence”.
Mr Whiteman said that while the government had shown that it recognised the problem, the sector needed to see “more boots on the ground, with visits to families to get to the bottom of issues with children’s attendance”.
“Ministers need to go further and faster, and look at the bigger picture, if we are to make real headway in tackling this problem,” he added.
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