Truancy in London 'insane' as up to a quarter of teenagers regularly miss school

The number of children constantly missing school is “insane”, experts warned on Thursday, as data shows more than a quarter of secondary school pupils in some parts of London regularly miss school.

The number of pupils classed as persistently absent – ​​missing at least one day per fortnight – has soared during Covid and remains above pre-pandemic levels.

Education leaders have called on schools to rethink how they tackle persistent absence in an attempt to take control of the problem.

Theresa Allotey, founder of Meliora High School, an alternative school for persistently absent students in Enfield, said: “The way we have been doing it is clearly not working – we need new approaches. »

She added: “Sometimes Covid is used as a crutch to justify why things aren’t quite the way they used to be. When we are back to normal in so many other areas, why can't we get back to normal with school? »

In England, more than one in five children are now considered to be constantly absent from school, according to government figures. Before the pandemic, this figure was one in ten.

The Evening Standard's analysis of the latest provisional data found that in Camden, Croydon and Westminster, more than a quarter of secondary school pupils were persistently absent. The highest rate was in Croydon at 27.1 per cent, compared to the national average of 25.3 per cent. The data also highlights huge variations across the capital, with the rate of persistent primary school absenteeism in Newham (20.9 per cent) almost double that in Richmond (10.8 per cent) .

The national average primary education rate was 16.2 percent. Ms Allotey, who left her role as operations director at Westminster Academy to set up Meliora this year, said students are feeling more anxious and the pressure of exams and social media is adding to their academic pressures. Mental Health.

She said students also miss school due to illness, vacations, friendship problems and bullying, adding that an “insane number of people” do not attend school regularly. “There must be something wrong,” she said.

“Either they don't see the point of school, or there's a problem they need help with, or you just need to take a different angle. The way we're doing it clearly isn't working. »

She added: “We need new approaches. The Department of Education has an attendance alliance that meets monthly… but there is no real motivation.

It comes after parenting experts reported a rise in families seeking help from child behavior experts to deal with truancy. Refusal to go to school was the main reason given by a quarter of parents for seeking help in a survey by parenting program Triple P. It found truancy was a bigger problem. important to parents as aggression/violence (15 percent), mental health (13 percent). percent) and financial matters (9 percent).

Triple P's Matt Buttery said: “Children missing school due to anxiety is becoming an increasingly pressing concern for parents in post-Covid Britain… we need to address it . »

Ms Allotey, 42, created Meliora after being seen as a persistent absentee herself as a schoolgirl. When it launches in April, it will offer 12-week programs to teach students life skills such as the importance of eye contact and how to cook.

A study by the charity Magic Breakfast found that schools which offer breakfast to pupils have 26 fewer half-days absent per year in a class of 30 pupils than schools which do not offer it. .

A Department for Education spokeswoman said it had launched 18 new attendance centers, bringing the total to 32, and announced £15 million to expand a mentoring pilot scheme.