Covid has had a detrimental impact on children’s education, new data shows.

A review of key stage one and two attainment, pupil absences and exclusions to date has shown that after the pandemic years more children were off school, behaviour worsened and development declined in West Sussex.

According to government data, in the autumn term of 2019-2020, 11.8 per cent of children, aged five to 15, were persistently absent from school, which rose to 18.7 per cent in the same period last year.

James Bowen, assistant general secretary at school leaders' union NAHT, has said attendance has declined due to rising anxiety and poor mental health, as well as poverty, challenges at home and a lack of support for children with special educational needs.

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Figures also show that student behaviour has worsened, with 7.1 suspensions handed out per 100 pupils in the 2022-23 academic year in West Sussex, up from 4.6 per 100 in 2018-19.

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: “We are determined to get to grips with the causes of poor behaviour. We’ve already committed to providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school and ensuring earlier intervention in mainstream schools for pupils with special needs.

"But we know poor behaviour can also be rooted in wider issues, which is why the government is developing an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty led by a taskforce co-chaired by the Education Secretary so that we can break down the barriers to opportunity."

Attainment and development have also declined in the county over the past five years.

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Young children’s speech, reading and writing has become worse, with 88 per cent of Year 2 pupils meeting the expected standard in their phonics assessment, down from 92 per cent in 2018-19.

The number of children performing to the expected level in reading, writing and maths has also dropped by seven per cent, from 63 per cent pre-pandemic to 56 per cent in 2022-23.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Headteachers, said: "The government clearly hasn’t done nearly enough to support children’s recovery from the pandemic and it is depressing that this has further harmed those children who need help the most."