The autumn term saw 60 per cent of pupils in England miss some lessons because of Covid, new Department for Education data reveals.
In total the absence rate was 11.7 per cent of sessions missed between September and Christmas 2020. The figure includes the 7 per cent of sessions that were missed for causes related to Covid.
When compared to autumn term absence figures for previous years this Covid related absence represents an additional 33 million days, or five days (one week) per pupil.
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The remaining absence rate for the 2020 autumn term was 4.7 per cent and was similar to last year’s 4.9 per cent, the DfE data shows.
Absence due to illness was 2.5%, a decrease compared to last year (2.8%). Although the illness absence rate includes positive coronavirus cases, a decrease in cases of flu and other respiratory diseases compared to last year means the overall rate has declined.
The absence rate is the total number of sessions - a session is equal to half a day -missed for all pupils as a percentage of the total number of possible sessions.
Commenting on the figures, Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “These figures show what we already know - that the autumn term was an extremely turbulent period with pupils regularly having to self-isolate because they either contracted Covid or were in close contact with someone who tested positive.
“This difficult situation was compounded by significant problems early in the term obtaining Covid tests for pupils and staff and in obtaining public health support in handling positive cases.
“The government’s refusal to give schools any flexibility to finish in-school teaching early before Christmas, which was accompanied by threats of legal action, made matters even worse.
“The Prime Minister’s former senior adviser spoke yesterday of the government’s shortcomings in the handling of this crisis and it is certainly the case that schools and colleges were badly let down by government leadership during the autumn term.
“It is to their immense credit that they managed to keep the show on the road during this exceptionally difficult period. They did an outstanding job in incredibly challenging circumstances in delivering in-school and remote education to their pupils.”
