A rising number of children are absent from school because of the poor quality housing they live in, according to an educational charity.
School-Home Support says 19% of the pupils it works with cite where they live as a major barrier to school attendance, up from 11% in the previous year.
The figures come amid increasing concerns higher levels of absence in many schools in England since the COVID pandemic.
The children the charity works with include those whose families may have been forced to move into temporary accommodation or an emergency refuge for their own safety.
Unsuitable housing or poor housing where there is no space to study or do homework also make it challenging for pupils to engage with their studies and attend school regularly, the charity says.
Attendance data from the Department for Education show absences in the spring term this year were still 50% higher than before the pandemic, while in 2021-22 more than one in five secondary pupils were ‘persistently absent’, missing 10% or more of sessions.
SHS’s chief executive officer, Jaine Stannard, said schools needed dedicated funding to provide pastoral as well as academic catch-up support for children struggling to engage.
‘If you are living in temporary accommodation miles away from school or have spent the last night in a car, that needs to be the priority conversation.’
