Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Lowestoft, Jess Asato, wants to put education in Lowestoft back on the agenda to tackle the “generation challenge” of persistent absence in schools. A staggering 2971 children in Suffolk are set to miss half their lessons by 2026 if rates of children skipping school continue. Between 2016 and 2022, the number of children missing half their lessons trebled across England with an increase of 242% in Suffolk, and is set to continue rising unless urgent action is taken.

Jess Asato, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Lowestoft says, “Persistent school absence is one of the biggest challenges we need to tackle if we’re going to break down barriers to opportunity. We’ll support children back to school with mental health counselling, breakfast clubs and a register of home-schooled children, funded by ending tax breaks for private schools. Every day of education matters for our children’s life chances: that’s why supporting schools to tackle severe absence would be one of my priorities if you elect me as your MP.”

A child is deemed persistently absent if they miss 10 per cent of lessons or more, and severely absent if they miss 50 per cent of lessons or more. Over the course of a year missing ten per cent of lessons would equate to four weeks’ worth of schooling, while missing half is the equivalent of missing four months of school.

Labour’s national plan includes the creation of a new Register of Home-Schooled Pupils to keep track of those not in mainstream schooling as part of a new package of measures to get to grips with persistent non-attendance and restore flagging public trust in England’s schools. Other measures will include:

• Equipping every school with funding to deliver evidence-based early language interventions to ensure every child develops the strong foundation in speech and language development that sets them up to achieve.
• Increasing mental health support through dedicated counsellors in every secondary school and putting mental health hubs in every community.
• Reforming the curriculum to deliver a better foundation in reading, writing and maths, while ensuring that children do not miss out on music, sport, art and drama.
• Providing universal free breakfast clubs for every primary school pupil in England to boost attendance across the country.

Labour’s intervention came after new research revealed that more than one in four parents think that school isn’t essential every day.