Pupil absences at Buckinghamshire schools have almost tripled since before the pandemic, new figures have shown. 

Data from the Department for Education (DfE) shows 1.9 per cent of pupils were severely absent during spring term last year. 

That is almost triple the 0.7 per cent recorded in 2018-19 with one in 53 children currently missing at least half of their lessons. 

Nationally, absences are also on the rise having risen from 0.8 per cent to 2.2 per cent in the last five years. 

Authorised absences due to illness were the main reason for non-attendance.

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Persistent absence, meaning children missing at least 10 per cent of lessons, also increased during the pandemic, with the rate rising to 21.5 per cent nationally last spring.

The overall absence rate – which includes authorised and unauthorised punctual, persistent and severe absences – increased from 4.8 per cent to 7.2 per cent in the past five years.

London was the only region where the rate was below 2 per cent, with 1.4 per cent missing school for prolonged periods of time.

This means pupils missed at least half of their school sessions with each day having two sessions, morning and afternoon.

It comes as thousands more pupils will receive support of specialist attendance mentors under government plans to boost school attendance from April 2025.

But a social justice think tank called for quicker and further action to tackle the “endemic” of severe school absence.

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Beth Prescott, programme lead at the Centre for Social Justice, said the “crisis of kids missing school shows no sign of abating” and urged the Government to act.

She added: “School absence has now become endemic, with parents often thinking it is not essential for children to attend school every day.

“Without faster and further action, like the national rollout of attendance mentors and a parental participation strategy, we will be picking up the pieces from this unfolding social disaster for years to come.”

But a DfE spokesperson said the Government wants to "break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best life chances." 

They said: “Tackling absence is everyone’s responsibility. Parents have a legal responsibility to make sure their child is in school, while government is committed to tackling the root causes of absence through mental health support in secondary schools, breakfast clubs in all primary schools and inclusive SEND support.”