As pupils return to schools for the new academic year, we look at the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on children in Oxfordshire and across England.

The first story of this three-part series looked at children in poverty. This is the second piece, which investigates the state of children's education.

Pupil attendance

The rate of pupils persistently missing school across the country has increased significantly following the coronavirus pandemic.

In the 2019-20 autumn term, 13.1 per cent of pupils missed at least 10 per cent of school sessions. Last year, this jumped to 19.5 per cent, a near-50 per cent rise in the number of children persistently absent.

Meanwhile, the proportion of children missing at least half of school sessions has more than doubled, from 0.9 per cent to 2 per cent.

The figures led the Education Secretary to label high truancy rates an "epidemic".

Bridget Phillipson, writing in the Sunday Times, warned she will make no "apologies" for fining parents with frequently absent children, and added too many parents allow children time off for holidays, birthdays or a "runny nose".

In Oxfordshire, persistent absence rates have jumped from 12.4 per cent in the 2019 autumn term to 19 per cent last year.

The proportion of pupils missing at least half of classes has also risen significantly, with 2.3 per cent of children in Oxfordshire missing 50 per cent or more of their school sessions last autumn.

James Bowen, assistant general secretary at school leaders' union NAHT, said attendance has declined significantly since the pandemic, fuelled by factors including rising anxiety and poor mental health, poverty, challenges at home, and under-resourced support for children with special educational needs.

Mr Bowen said: "It’s vital children attend school whenever possible ­– pupils can easily miss crucial steps in their learning if they’re absent."

Pupil behaviour

Nationally, suspension rates have also risen since the before pandemic – including in Oxfordshire.

In Oxfordshire, 9.1 suspensions per 100 pupils were handed out in the 2022-23 academic year.

This was up from 5.4 per 100 in 2018-19.

Across the country, suspension rates more than doubled, from 3.8 per 100 pupils in 2018-19 to 9.3 per 100 last year.

The Institute for Public Policy Research think tank and education charity The Difference estimate suspensions and exclusions rose by more than 20 per cent in the 2023-24 Easter term compared with the same period the year before.

Kiran Gill, IPPR associate fellow and chief executive of The Difference, said: "The past four years, post-pandemic, have seen an alarming rise in children losing learning.

"We should all be worried about the social injustice that the most marginalised children – who already have the biggest barriers to opportunity outside of school – are those most likely to be not in classrooms through absence, suspension and exclusion."