Commenting as the latest statistics from the Department for Education (DfE) on pupil absence in schools in England show a drop in persistent absence but an increase in the rate of severe absence, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“While we need to be careful when comparing small year-on-year changes, these figures suggest that we continue to face significant challenges when it comes to school attendance. We remain particularly concerned about those pupils that are ‘severely’ absent and missing school on a very regular basis.

“This shows that we need dedicated and specialist teams and resources to work directly with pupils who frequently miss school to get underneath the reasons and to solve them. These issues can be complex and beyond a school’s expertise or ability to solve. Mental health, for example, is something we know to be a significant barrier to school attendance. Timely support from specialist mental health professionals is required in these cases.

“Unfortunately, a decade of cuts to services has seen both mental health care and the teams that used to support schools with attendance decimated. Schools and parents are often left with nowhere to turn for help.

“This is not an issue schools can tackle alone. The government needs to redouble its efforts and commit the necessary resources to tackle the issue of severe absence.”