NEW: school attendance figures in England continue to slide. Now down to 82.9% across all schools on 19th November, down from 86% the week before.

In secondary schools that figure was an especially low 78%. More than 1 in 5 secondary school students weren’t in school.

As have been reporting for a while this is a real slow burn problem. There are schools barely functioning because of low attendance which is mainly down to Covid.

DfE: “The decrease in attendance is mainly due to the continued increase in the number of pupils self-isolating due to potential contact with a case of COVID-19.”

25 to 27% had 30 or more pupils self-isolating due to potential contact with a case of Covid inside the school.

The average (median) number of pupils isolating, per confirmed pupil COVID-19 case within schools has increased slightly from 28 pupils on 12 November to 29 pupils on 19 November.

All of this makes the provision of school IT all the more important, the distribution of which (as I’ve reported previously) has had problems.

It also once again casts doubt on the fairness and efficacy of exams next summer.

As ever keen to hear from teachers about what’s going on in your school re attendance and IT. DMs open and in confidence.

. @MaryBoustedNEU: "Schools and teachers are working incredibly hard to keep the system running without any support or resources from the government. The situation has reached a crisis point and the government cannot let coronavirus run riot in schools any longer."

. @RealGeoffBarton: "The reality behind these figures is that many schools are experiencing disruption on a monumental scale and are desperately trying to cling on to the end of term."

From one teacher: "In my secondary school we have part of every single year group isolating. There have been so many y12 cases that the entire year group has been sent home as a precaution to stop further spread. Every lesson I taught today had some pupils at home isolating."

"when I have y11s who have isolated 3 times since the beginning of the year it cannot be fair to hold exams in the same way as usual. Staffing is also an issue- yesterday we had 19 teachers off. The entire budget for cover teachers for the whole academic year has been spent."

. @wesstreeting: “These shocking figures underline why all schools need access to rapid testing, why every pupil isolating needs support to learn remotely and why the govt must urgently publish a plan for exams that takes into account these extraordinary levels of lost learning.”

From another teacher: "We are (more often than not) encouraged not to isolate when students in our classes have tested positive, this is because of staffing pressures and mounting supply teacher costs. Essential deep cleans are not happening due to budgetary constraints."

Here's a sense of what it's like trying to teach at the moment when so many teachers and pupils are self isolating.