Covid drives up school absences to new high

Covid-related pupil absence in schools has increased to its highest rate since all students returned to class in March, new Government figures show.

The Department for Education (DfE) estimates about 3.3% of state school pupils - up to 239,000 children - did not attend class for Covid-related reasons on June 17, compared with 1.2% on June 10.

Around 89.7% of state school pupils were in class on June 17, down from 92.4% on June 10.

In secondary schools, only 84.9% attended class last week, down from 88.7%, while 93% of pupils attended primary school, down from 95.1% on June 10.

Approximately 214,000 children were self-isolating due to a possible contact with a Covid-19 case, according to the DfE statistics.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said: “The further drop in school attendance figures shows the pressure schools continue to operate under when it comes to managing Covid-19 cases. Schools are continuing to work incredibly hard to ensure that all the safety arrangements recommended by government remain in place.

"However, we can see that case numbers are continuing to rise amongst children and teenagers and so it is essential that local public health teams are given the freedom to react quickly and put additional precautions in place where this is necessary.

"As the Prime Minister says, COVID will be with us for some time yet. With that in mind, it is imperative that the Government also gives schools clear instructions about what scenarios they should expect to plan for in September.”