And headteachers have also warned that the battle is far from won given that notable staff absence due to Covid continues to cause headaches for a significant minority of schools.
The latest attendance figures published by the Department for Education show that pupil absence related to Covid has fallen to 0.7% as of March 3.
This is a huge improvement on the 2.2% recorded before half-term (on February 10).
Attendance in state-funded primary schools was up to 95.1% (from 93.2%) and in secondary schools it is up to 89% (from 87.3%).
It means that “only” 58,000 children and young people were absent due to Covid on March 3, with 45,000 of these having a confirmed case.
The situation is also improving when it comes to staff absence, although at a seemingly slower rate.
The figures show 31,000 teachers and school leaders (5.8% of the workforce) and 38,000 teaching assistants and other staff (5.4% of the workforce) were off for both Covid and non-Covid reasons on March 3. These figures are down from 40,000 and 52,000 respectively.
Of the combined 69,000 absences, almost 15,000 were absent directly due to Covid, the vast majority with confirmed cases.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said that the figures give hope that “life is returning to something approaching normal” in schools.
However, he’s cautious about teacher absence levels: “It is still concerning to note that absence among teachers and school leaders has fallen by a relatively small amount.”
Indeed, the figures show that 11% of state-funded schools had more then 15% of their teachers and leaders absent on March 3, including 2,000 primaries, 100 secondaries and 200 special schools. A majority of schools (57%) reported up to 5% absence among teachers and school leaders.
Mr Barton continued: “This means that some schools are still having to heavily rely on expensive supply staff to deliver lessons as normal.
“These figures show an improvement but the fact remains that the impact of the pandemic is certainly not over. It is important that everyone remains vigilant and continues to follow the government’s guidance on testing and isolation if we are not to run the risk of a new wave of transmission and disruption in schools and colleges.”
Nick Brook, deputy general secretary at the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “We know that headline figures can hide big variations locally and there are some schools and many families and pupils that are still experiencing disruption.
“Attendance is still below where it would usually be for this time of year pre-pandemic. This should remind us that we are not out of the woods yet.”
Mr Brook also called once again on the government to do more to support exam students this summer and to consider its plans again for conducting SATs as normal in primary schools.
He explained: “It has been a very difficult winter for schools – and for pupils – and the disruption to teaching and learning over the last three academic years needs to be recognised. While the government has put a package of adaptations in place for exams, these may not be enough to support some students who have suffered more disruption than most.
“And there is no such acknowledgement of the disruption to learning pupils have faced in primary schools – the government plans for SATs to go ahead as though it is a normal year, when this year has been anything but normal.”
- DfE: Week 10: Attendance in education and early years settings during the coronavirus pandemic, March 2022: https://bit.ly/3tGLyB1
- DfE: Collection: Guidance for schools: coronavirus, last updated March 2022: www.gov.uk/government/collections/guidance-for-schools-coronavirus-covid-19