Children across England are returning to school in record
numbers, with over 5 million more days in classrooms this year –
signalling the biggest year-on-year improvement in attendance for
a decade.
New figures show more than 140,000 fewer pupils are persistently
absent compared to last year, as the government's relentless
focus on tackling the inherited school attendance crisis begins
to pay dividends.
Of those, 45,000 are young people from deprived backgrounds,
reflecting particular improvement among disadvantaged children.
The dramatic improvement means teachers have saved over 10,000
days that would have been spent helping absent pupils catch up,
freeing them to focus on delivering excellent education to whole
classes.
Spending more time in school boosts learning outcomes for
children, but it's also about making friends and having new
experiences, helping them to achieve and thrive. It also has a
huge impact on children's future chances in life. With a
single day out of school costing an estimated £750 in lost
earnings across the course of a career for a typical student,
this year's progress alone will protect over £2bn in pupils'
future earnings and building the skilled workforce needed to
drive economic growth.
The attendance breakthrough demonstrates the start of a
fundamental shift in classrooms across the country, with
attendance improving in all regions, as more children get back
into the habit of attending every day.
The department is already making progress through our Plan for
Change and this year has delivered major upgrades to school and
LA-level data. This puts AI-powered reports into the hands of
schools so they can benchmark their attendance against schools in
similar circumstances to tackle attendance issues head on,
alongside significantly expanding our pilot mentors scheme to
directly target young people who need more support.
This builds on the government's wider approach to tackle the root
causes of absence, including rolling out free breakfast clubs in
every primary school, expanding access to mental health support
in schools, and ensuring earlier intervention for pupils with
special educational needs.
Education Secretary, said:
The record improvement in school attendance shows we are turning
the tide on a crisis that saw a generation go missing from
England's schools.
Getting children back in classrooms, where they belong, is
non-negotiable if we are to break the unfair link between
background and success so we can build a fairer country – a
cornerstone of our Plan for Change.
When we tackle attendance head-on, everyone benefits – pupils get
the consistent education they deserve, teachers can focus on
driving up standards, and we build the stronger workforce our
economy needs.
With fewer children missing crucial learning, pupils are more
likely to develop the consistent study habits, knowledge and
social skills that will serve them whether they progress to
apprenticeships, colleges or universities.
The attendance gains sit alongside for the government's mission
to ensure 75% of five-year-olds reach key development milestones
by 2028, recognising that regular school attendance from the
earliest years creates the foundation for lifelong success.
To go further, new attendance and behaviour hubs will work
nationwide to support more than 5,000 schools a year in tackling
absence, while specialist attendance mentors are working directly
with 10,000 of the most vulnerable children over the next three
years to remove barriers to attending school.
