Record number of school pupils are missing more than HALF of their lessons, shock school absence figures show

A RECORD number of pupils are severely absent from school, new figures show. 

Over 150,000 kids are missing more than 50 per cent of their classes.

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A record number of kids are consistently bunking off school, new figures show[/caption]

There are also 1.6 million children who are persistently absent, missing more than 10 per cent of school. 

The Department for Education statistics, covering Summer term 2023, have raised alarm bells that bunking off is becoming entrenched.

Absence rates are up 12 per cent on the previous term.

And there’s been an 80 per cent hike since before the pandemic.

Disadvantaged kids are disproportionately affected, with pupils on free school meals more than three times as likely to skip school.

Education chiefs today called for ministers to “get a grip” of the crisis.

Beth Prescott, 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.  

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.  

“Failure to get these children back to school will have enduring consequences for them, for wider society and for the economy.”