England's 'just one day off' culture adding up to weeks of lost learning as 'birthday bunk offs' become the norm

By ELEANOR HARDING, EDUCATION EDITOR Published: 00:01, 9 June 2026 | Updated: 00:01, 9 June 2026 England's 'just one day off' culture is adding up to weeks of lost learning for pupils, as officials warn 'birthday bunk offs' are becoming the norm. New Government figures suggest children are up to 55 per cent more likely to miss school on their birthday as opposed to any other day. Across all pupils, the overall absence rate on birthdays was 9.6 per cent per cent last year, compared to 6.9 per cent on non-birthdays. The trend was particularly pronounced for Year 8 pupils, who had a birthday absence rate of 12.8 per cent compared to 8.3 per cent for non-birthdays. The Department for Education said that while a single day of absence 'appears insignificant', these missed days can 'quickly add up over the course of a school year', increasing the risk of falling behind. And it pointed out catch-up sessions for bunking pupils can 'affect the pace of learning' for the whole class. The figures also showed that 56 per cent of pupils who had an afternoon medical or dental appointment also missed the morning session. In addition, they revealed schools that finish for summer mid-week had on average absence rates 2.6 percentage points higher than those finishing on a Friday. New Government figures suggest children are up to 55 per cent more likely to miss school on their birthday as opposed to any other day (pictured: Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson) The data, for 2024/25 - the latest available - comes amid a drive by Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to cut overall absence rates. From today, schools will get a new package of attendance support including data tools and ideas for initiatives. Examples include giving pupils a queue-jump pass at lunch on their birthday, to encourage them to attend. Mrs Phillipson said: 'Improving attendance is everyone's responsibility. That's why we're giving schools better tools to identify problems early and work with families to address them, while encouraging parents to play their part in building strong attendance habits.' Separate data shows pupils who attend nearly every day in Year 6 have 30 per cent higher odds of reaching expected standards in reading, writing and maths compared to those missing 5 to 10 per cent of school. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.