School attendance: Absence rate twice as high for term start

Pupils are back in schools but they face safety measures against the spread of Covid-19

Just over one in 10 children missed lessons last week as schools in England reopened.

Figures from the Department for Education (DfE) show that 88% of pupils were back in class for the start of term and estimates that 92% of all state schools in England were fully open - and that 99.9% were at least partially open.

The small number of schools that were not fully open did not provide face-to-face teaching for the whole school day and the DfE says that for most of them, "this was due to non-COVID-19 related reasons".

With 12% of pupils off school last week, the absence rate is twice as high as normal, although figures haven't been broken down to show whether pupils were at home because of coronavirus.

A survey by Teacher Tapp, a teaching support app, said that out of 6,000 teachers, 3% said schools had sent home year groups or classes last week and 4% of teachers were self-isolating this week.

Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, said: "The best place for children and young people to learn is in the classroom, and it's encouraging to see that last week more than seven million pupils were back with their classmates and teachers at schools around the country."

He added: "The fact that the vast majority of our schools are fully open is testament to the hard work of staff throughout the summer holidays in preparing for a safe return."

However, one per cent of schools said they were not fully open "due to suspected or confirmed cases of Covid-19" and some school teachers are warning that staff and pupils unable to get coronavirus tests is leading to entire year group bubbles being sent home and preventing schools from getting back to normal.

As the government prepared for schools to reopen safely, it had promised that it would be "as easy as possible to get a test through a wide range of routes that are locally accessible, fast and convenient."

But the National Association of Head Teachers said testing delays are "causing chaos for schools right now and could jeopardise attendance remaining high".