(Picture: PA Wire)
Teachers have issued a Covid warning after the number of children off school rose by a quarter in two weeks.
Department for Education data showed that absentees increased by 25 per cent between June 9 and June 23.
The Government no longer publishes the figure for children off sick with Covid but teachers said it was “highly unlikely to be a coincidence” that the rise had happened as infections increase in the UK.
The number of teachers and headteachers absent rose by 18 per cent in the same period, from 5.5 per cent to 6.5 per cent.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “It is very worrying to see that the percentage of students and staff absent from school has risen. These statistics no longer contain a breakdown of absence due to Covid because of the Government’s ‘living with Covid’ policies. However, it is highly unlikely to be a coincidence that we are seeing absence in education settings rising at the same time as Covid infections are increasing in the general population.”
The latest data shows that attendance in all state schools was 89.4 per cent — down from 91.5 per cent a fortnight before. The figures have been adjusted to take into account teenagers away during their exams. It means 10.6 per cent were absent at the last count.
The overall absence rate in state schools before the pandemic was 4.7 per cent, according to figures for the 2018/19 academic year.
Mr Barton said: “Our concern is that this is going to keep happening with wave after wave of infections causing fresh disruption in our schools and colleges. There is absolutely no government strategy to deal with this issue.
“We are not for a moment calling for a return to a battery of restrictions but there surely needs to be some thought given to providing some free Covid testing, more financial support for supply staff cover, and looking again at issues such as ventilation ahead of the autumn term as it is abundantly clear that the virus is not going away. This is not only an educational issue but a health one too as it is clear that staff and students are catching the virus repeatedly with potential harm to their welfare.”
Meanwhile, the latest figures showed 1.7 million people were testing positive across the UK, a 23 per cent increase on the week before. Scientists believe the rise in cases was due to new Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5, which have mutated further. The number of hospital admissions for Covid-19 in England has also risen.
Some 7,822 patients had it on June 27, up 37 per cent on the previous week, NHS figures show. It is the highest total for nearly two months but is still some way below the peak of 16,600 patients during the Omicron BA.2 wave.
