
The percentage of schoolchildren missing more than half of their classes has increased in the latest Department for Education (DfE) data, despite progress in overall school attendance.
DfE figures show 2.26% of pupils were severely absent, which means they missed more than half of their classes, from school across the autumn and spring terms of 2024/25, up from 2.14% in 2023/24, and significantly above 0.81% pre-pandemic in 2018/19.