Covid: 250,000 children in England missed school last week because of cases

Nearly 250,000 children in England missed school last week because of coronavirus infections, self-isolation or school closures.

It was the most disrupted week since schools fully reopened in March, according to figures from the Department for Education (DfE).

It showed that on 17 June around 172,000 pupils in state schools were self-isolating because of Covid case contacts within schools.

There were also 9,000 pupils out of the classroom with confirmed Covid-19 cases, 16,000 with unconfirmed cases and more than 7,000 whose schools had closed because of a coronavirus outbreak.

Have you had to miss school because of infections, self-isolation or closures? How has it affected you? Get in touch and leave us a comment below.

The rise in cases has been linked to the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant across the UK.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said on Twitter: "Schools have no choice but to hang on until the end of term managing this situation. We pay tribute to them. But we simply cannot have another term of large numbers of children spending time out of school because of coronavirus."

A Government spokesperson said: "Schools across the country continue to have robust protective measures in place, including regular twice weekly testing to break chains of transmission and keeping pupils in smaller group bubbles. We are also taking additional measures in areas where there is a high prevalence of the virus, including increasing the availability of testing for staff, pupils and families and working with directors of public health on further measures to reduce local transmission.

"Absence in schools continues to reflect wider community transmission. Where students have to self-isolate, schools are providing high-quality remote education."