Record high for severe absences at school is a major cause for concern
One of the most damaging legacies of the Covid pandemic has been the absence rate in school classrooms across the country.
The fact that pupils missing more than half of their classes at school hit another record high last year, is a genuine cause for concern.
In the 2024/25 academic year, 2.39 per cent of pupils were classed as “severely absent”, meaning they missed 50 per cent or more of their sessions, up from 2.3 per cent in 2023/24.
The proportion of children who are severely absent has been growing every year since the pandemic from 0.85 per cent in 2018/19. Thankfully, the rate of increase is slowing down.
While attendance in general has improved, we as a country are long away from returning to pre-pandemic levels. This isn’t just damaging for children but the economic future of Britain. The skills gap will only widen if there are major gaps in a children’s education.
That is why more needs to be done to repair the social contract that parents had with schools. There are still some parents who think sending their children to school is an option and not an obligation.
But it would be too simplistic to just lay the blame on parents.
Especially when the increase in proportion that are severely absent is mainly driven by pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) who have education, health and care plans.
The Government deserves credit for laying out a plan to start tackling the Send crisis in its recent Schools White Paper with the aim of making the system more inclusive.