Study Warns of Growing Mental Health Risks as School Absence Deepens

Children who miss around 30% of their school year face nearly triple the risk of developing mental health difficulties compared with those who attend regularly, according to a large-scale study analysing attendance and health data from over 1.1 million pupils. The findings highlight growing concern as persistent absence continues to impact almost one in five children in England.

The research, led by academics at Loughborough University and released in September 2025, identified a sharp rise in mental health risk as school absence increases. The likelihood of mental ill health was 1.82% among pupils with full attendance. This figure increased to 3.7% for those missing roughly 20% of sessions and rose further to 5.27% among children absent for about 30% of the school year.

These results closely reflect attendance statistics published by the Department for Education for the 2024/25 academic year. According to the data, absence rates stood at 5.2% in primary schools, 8.6% in secondary schools and 12.9% in special schools. Overall, 18.7% of pupils are classed as persistently absent, meaning they miss 10% or more of their lessons.

The study also revealed significant differences between pupils with and without existing mental health conditions. Children experiencing mental ill health missed an average of 16% of school sessions, compared with just 6% among those without such conditions. This suggests a reinforcing cycle in which emotional challenges contribute to absence, while extended time away from school increases vulnerability to mental health difficulties.

To reach these conclusions, researchers linked data from the 2021 Census with hospital records, school attendance figures and household information. The analysis further showed that pupils receiving additional school-based support experienced a reduced connection between absence and mental ill health, indicating that early and sustained intervention may help mitigate some of the negative effects associated with missed schooling.

As schools review attendance data at the end of the autumn term and prepare for pupils’ return in the new year, the findings contribute to wider discussion about the emotional dimensions of engagement with learning. In Cambridge, Saint John’s College School uses the Emotions for Learning (E4L) framework, which sets out how emotions such as confidence, anxiety, motivation and resilience relate to pupils’ engagement and behaviour in learning contexts.

The Emotions for Learning framework describes how emotional responses can influence persistence, participation and response to challenge in the classroom, providing a structured way of understanding how pupils experience learning alongside academic expectations.

With persistent absence defined as missing 10% or more of sessions, the current national rate means nearly one in five children are at increased risk of the mental health difficulties identified in the research.

For more information, visit Saint John’s College School.

Noel Alberts

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