Thousands of children were regularly missing from Herefordshire schools during the first two terms last year, new figures reveal.

Across the country, absence rates have increased over each of the last two years, following several years of general improvement. Department for Education numbers show that 16% of state secondary pupils in Herefordshire were classed as persistently absent in the autumn 2017 and spring 2018 terms, meaning they missed at least one in ten classes.

When primary schools in the area are included, 12% of pupils across the 94 state schools were persistently absent. In line with the national trend, it is an increase on the previous year.

On average, pupils missed six days of school, which equates to 5% of their teaching time.See this week’s paper for more stories like this, available in shops and as a Digital Edition now.