New analysis reveals « deeply worrying » attendance gaps, with pupils entitled to free school meals increasingly likely to miss school in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
October 18, 2022
New analysis reveals « deeply worrying » attendance gaps, with pupils entitled to free school meals increasingly likely to miss school in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Just over 28% of primary pupils and 40% of secondary pupils eligible for the benefit were persistently absent during the 2021/22 autumn term.
A total of 538,427 pupils entitled to free school meals were persistently absent in the autumn term of 2021/22. In total, 1,595, 582 out of the 7 million pupils in England’s primary and secondary schools had missed a significant number of school days.
Lee Elliot Major, Professor of Social Mobility at the University of Exeter, and Andy Eyles from UCL, analyzed official data in England during the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, breaking down these statistics by whether children qualified for Free School Meals (FSM) or not.
Professor Elliot Major says that « these deeply worrying figures point to a rising wave of school absences that will exacerbate achievement divides between poorer pupils and their peers in the post-pandemic era. While national attendance figures are looking slightly better this term, initial reports suggest that as many as half of poorer pupils are still not returning to school. »
« Some pupils are suffering from financial hardship and a loss of confidence.
