157,722 children severely absent, missing more than 50 per cent
of school
1,688,649 children persistently absent, missing more than 10 per
cent of school
Commenting on today’s Government release of the latest school
attendance data – for Summer term 2023 – , Education Lead at the
Centre for Social Justice, said:
“These record high figures for severe absence – with persistent
absence back on the increase - confirm our worst fears that
absence from school is becoming entrenched.
"The latest government data for Summer term 2023
reveals 157, 722 children missed 50 per cent or more of
their school time, up more than 12 per cent on the previous
term. This is an increase of over 160 per cent since before
the pandemic.
"Persistent absence, where children miss more than 10 per cent of
school time, is back up to 1,688,649 children, an increase
of more than 15 per cent since the previous term and up more than
80 per cent since before the pandemic.
"The data also shows that disadvantaged children are
disproportionately affected, with children on free school meals
more than three times more likely to be severely absent than
their more affluent peers over the 2022/23 academic year. Given
the attainment gap between disadvantaged students and their peers
is at its highest level in over a decade, crisis levels of severe
absence will further entrench post-pandemic
disparities.
"The Centre for Social Justice first identified this crisis in
our schools in 2021 since when the government has taken several
welcome steps, adopting a number of CSJ recommendations. This has
included making attendance guidance statutory from August 2024
and collecting more regular data to better monitor patterns of
absence.
"But Ministers need to get a much more urgent grip of this
unfolding crisis, including the urgent roll out of 2,000
attendance mentors and a National Parental Participation
Strategy. Failure to get these children back to school will
have enduring consequences for them, for wider society and for
the economy.”
