South Yorkshire school saw absences treble after England's Euro 2020 semi-final win against Denmark

Pupils of Whingate Primary School, Leeds, support their former alumni England and Leeds midfielder Kalvin Phillips

Children have been allowed to wear football shirts, or the colours of their team, at a number of schools on Friday ahead of England’s game against Italy at Wembley on Sunday evening.

School leaders are expecting possible absences on Monday morning after pupil attendance reportedly dropped in some schools on Thursday after England beat Denmark in extra-time.

It comes as one secondary school in South Yorkshire saw a threefold increase in the number of unexplained absences on Thursday, rising from around 20 last week to 66 the morning after the semi-final.

Pepe Di’Iasio, vice president of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) and head of Wales High School near Sheffield, said: “Our attendance is usually very good, it’s well above national average.

“But we had triple the amount of unknown absences, undeclared absences, than we would have on a normal day.

“That may not be down to the England game alone, it may be down to the pandemic, but certainly our attendance team are reporting that they had to make more calls than normal for this time of year.

“I suppose what that does is it makes me think: did the England game going on so late have an impact? Will that have an impact on Monday morning?”

Mr Di’Iasio added: “I would expect as a headteacher everyone to come to school on Monday morning and to enjoy the last week.

“And, you know, there may be lots of reasons why students are unable to come to school on any day of the week, but I would hope that everyone would love to be here on Monday.”

Pupils at his school are being allowed on Friday to wear a football shirt, or the colours of the team that they support, to mark England getting to the final.

He said: “There has been a real mood in the school to support the England team, and actually it comes at a really good time because it’s been such a tough year, such a difficult year, that I think it’s a positive way to look to end the school year.”

But Mr Di’Iasio – who is half Italian and half English – is personally torn about the final, added: “Friends keep saying to me you can’t lose, but the way I see it is I can’t win. Because whoever wins I will feel bad.”