A new report from the University of Exeter and the LSE has highlighted that just over 28% of primary pupils and 40% of secondary pupils on free school meals, an indicator of poverty, were persistently absent during the 2021/22 autumn term.
Persistently absent is taken to mean missing 10% of school sessions, a session being a half day. So that’s at least seven days of schooling.
Pre-pandemic, the figures were 10% of primary pupils and 15% of secondary pupils.
That’s over half a million kids missing school.
Poverty is especially high among families where there is an adult who is disabled, at nearly 33%.
For families including a disabled child, the poverty rate is 40% – more than twice the rate where there is no disability.
