Children with mild and moderate anxiety are likely to be better off attending school because long periods of absence can make symptoms worse, the chief medical officer for England has said.
Amid mounting concern in government about the crisis in pupil attendance since Covid, Prof Chris Whitty has written to schools to reassure parents that anxiety can be a normal part of growing up and that being in lessons can help.
As the new school term got under way across England, Whitty said it was also appropriate for parents to send children to school with mild respiratory illnesses, including cold symptoms such as a minor cough, runny nose or sore throat. He said they should not be sent to school if they had a temperature of 38C or above.
Details of the letter emerged as the government’s preferred candidate to take over as Ofsted’s chief inspector of schools and children’s services in England called for an urgent review of increased absence in schools since Covid.
Sir Martyn Oliver, the chief executive of the Outwood Grange academies trust (OGAT), said this week’s hot weather and “some of the issues we are reading in the news” – taken to mean the Raac crisis in school buildings – were likely to further dent attendance.
Giving evidence to a pre-appointment hearing of the Commons education committee, he said: “Right now I desperately need Ofsted to do a thematic dive into attendance – right now.” He added: “It’s too late.”
According to headteachers, anxiety is one of the key reasons behind increased pupil absence. Whitty’s letter, which was also signed by other health leaders, is intended to help parents assess whether their child is well enough to be in school.
“Worry and mild or moderate anxiety, whilst sometimes difficult emotions, can be a normal part of growing up for many children and young people,” the letter said. “Being in school can often help alleviate the underlying issues. A prolonged period of absence is likely to heighten a child’s anxiety about attending in the future, rather than reduce it.”
More than a fifth (22.3%) of pupils in England were persistently absent from school, missing at least 10% of their sessions, in 2022-23, according to official government data, up from 10.9% in 2018-19, before the pandemic.
Julie McCulloch, the director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Many persistently absent pupils are struggling with profound problems which have been exacerbated by the cost of living crisis. What they need is more specialist, pastoral and mental health support.”
Oliver, who will begin a five-year term at the schools inspectorate in January if his appointment is confirmed, told MPs that Ofsted should be working to spread best practice from schools with good attendance.
He promised an “empathetic” approach at Ofsted, after widespread calls for reform after the death of the headteacher Ruth Perry.
He also defended the use of suspensions in schools. A Guardian investigation in 2018 found that OGAT academies had some of the highest suspension and exclusion rates in England, with 41% of pupils at Outwood Academy Ormesby in Middlesbrough suspended for at least a day in the previous school year.
Oliver rejected the suggestion that he was a “zero-tolerance” leader and said suspensions at his schools – which he said were among the most challenging in the country – were very short, at a day and a half on average. He objected to use of the phrase “isolation booths”, where children are taken if their behaviour is disrupting others, saying: “It’s not isolation. It’s a reflection room.”
