Almost 20% of Northumberland school pupils are persistently absent, nearly double pre-pandemic levels

Analysis of figures from the Department for Education shows 7,552 students in state-funded schools across Northumberland missed a tenth or more of sessions. The school day is split into a morning and afternoon session, with every child expected to attend all sessions.

These students accounted for 19.9% of the 37,924 students enrolled in the area during the 2022-23 academic year, up significantly from 10.4% in 2018-19.

Across England, 1.6 million pupils were persistently absent, 21.2% of students, a slight improvement from 22.5% in 2021-22, but nearly double the level in 2018-19 when just 10.9% of pupils were persistently absent.

Paul Whiteman, NAHT general secretary, said: "School leaders and teachers are doing all they can to reverse the increase in pupils who are persistently absent post-pandemic, and we are pleased to see the number of children coming back into school is moving in the right direction.

"However, absence rates are still significantly higher than before Covid and much more needs to be done to bring them down."

In Northumberland, 973,000 of 13,344,000 school sessions were missed.

Of these absences, 303,000 (2.3%) were unauthorised, up from 1.4% in 2018-19.

The DfE recently announced a series of measures as part of its drive to boost attendance after the pandemic, including increasing fines for parents taking children out of school without permission.

School absence fines currently start at £60, rising to £120 if they are not paid within 21 days. From autumn, they will instead start at £80, rising to £160.

Geoff Barton, Association of School and College Leaders’ general secretary, said: "Advertising slogans and attendance hubs are just not going to make a tangible difference to pupils who are missing days or weeks of school at a time. We have to be far more ambitious."

A DfE spokesperson said: "Thanks to our fantastic teachers and school leaders, and our package of wide-ranging reforms designed to support schools to improve attendance, we are already seeing rapid improvement.

"We know that some children face greater barriers to attendance, like pupils with long term medical conditions or special educational needs and disabilities, which is why our guidance ensures schools work with pupils and families to respond to each pupils' individual needs."