Brighton and Hove sees rise in pupils missing lessons

New data from the Department for Education shows 2.9 per cent of pupils in the city were severely absent in the spring term last year – up significantly from 1.1 per cent in 2018-19.

Nationally, severe absence during the spring term more than doubled from 0.8 per cent to 2.2 per cent over the past five years.

This means pupils missed at least half of their school sessions. Each day has two sessions, morning and afternoon.

Beth Prescott, programme lead at the Centre for Social Justice, said the “crisis of kids missing school shows no sign of abating” and urged the government to act.

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The figures also show authorised absences due to illness was the main reason for severe absence across the country.

Persistent absence, children missing at least ten per cent of their lessons, also increased during the pandemic, with the rate rising to 21.5 per cent nationally last spring.

Additionally, the overall national absence rate – which includes authorised and unauthorised punctual, persistent and severe absences – increased from 4.8 per cent to 7.2 per cent in the past five years.

A DfE spokesman said: “Tackling absence is everyone’s responsibility. Parents have a legal responsibility to make sure their child is in school, while government is committed to tackling the root causes of absence through mental health support in secondary schools, breakfast clubs in all primary schools and inclusive SEND support.”