Attendance issues in our schools – exacerbated by the pandemic – is one of the most stubborn. It is why the Department for Education this week unveiled plans to tackle school non attendance.
The statistics are startling. The persistent absence rate in England’s schools was 22 per cent in 2022/23. More than 125,000 pupils – the equivalent of 445 primary schools – were severely absent in autumn 2022. That’s more than double the number of so-called ‘ghost pupils’ than in autumn 2020.
The rates for vulnerable pupils are even worse, with attendance rates for pupils eligible for free school meals 3.4 times higher.
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