‘The system just doesn’t work’: More children than ever are not in school, report finds, with more than 11 million lost days
A new report has found more children than ever are not in school, with the number of lost days of learning up nearly 70% in five years.
It is the most vulnerable children who skip school, are excluded, or simply disappear from education.
The analysis found that children lost 6.8 million days of learning in the autumn term before the COVID pandemic (2019/20) due to suspensions and absences, but the figure was 11.5 million days in the same period in 2023/24.
The report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and education charity The Difference also found for every child that is permanently excluded, 10 other children experience an “invisible” move that is not recorded in national data or overseen by local authorities or trusts.
A report has found more children than ever are not in school – with ‘invisible’ moves not recorded in national data
This includes “managed moves” – which are informal agreements between schools – as well as the illegal practice of off-rolling.
The report says: “One-third of children who experience one of these hidden moves goes to an unknown destination – meaning the Department for Education has no idea where or whether they are still being schooled.”
Sky News spoke to Gary Johns, from east London, who left school at the age of 14 and never went back. He decided to walk out after spending days in “isolation” being punished for bad behaviour.
Gary Johns left school aged 14 after spending days in ‘isolation’ being punished for bad behaviour.
He said: “It was like a caravan in the school grounds. You stay there all day long and they bring your lunch and food to you.
“You are not allowed to move from the desk unless you want to go to the toilet, where you can only go to the toilet from break and lunch – other than that you are there the whole day.”
Gary was out of education for a year and says he was not offered alternative options for education.
A mentor from the charity CAPE eventually got through to him by knocking on his door every day and urging him to go to the gym to build his confidence. Now aged 17, he is taking a carpentry course.
Now 17, Gary said he was never offered alternate education – is he’s now taking a carpentry course
Hussein Hussein from CAPE Mentors said many schools try to avoid taking on children who have been excluded from somewhere else.
He said: “The system just doesn’t work at the moment. We are in England, we should be saying ‘kids go to school.’ But the reality is ‘oh no they’ve been out so long we’ve got our GCSE results that’s not a risk I’m willing to take.’
“And the schools are smart, they are not going to say that. Instead, it’s ‘we don’t think it’s in the kid’s best interest’ – which is a load of nonsense. It is in every kid’s interest to be in school.”
‘The system just doesn’t work at the moment,’ Hussein Hussein says
Taejon Joseph-Andrews, 15-years-old, is in a pupil referral unit called the Haringey Learning Partnership.
In the space of two years, he was excluded from one school and managed out of three others.
He says his behaviour was triggered by grief which the schools failed to understand.
Taejon says ‘they were just looking at my record and judging me… I don’t think that’s fair’
He said: “They were just looking at my record and judging me based on my record and I don’t think that’s fair, especially when you don’t know what that child’s been through.
“I lost my nan – that was hard for me. I was staying with her as well, and she’d always been there for me.
“Losing someone as important as that – it just drove me crazy.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Where are excluded students now?
Taejon says at a time when he was having to feed and clothe himself, he was ‘on trial’ at various schools and being set targets he could not achieve.
But he believes with the help of the Haringey Learning Partnership he will be able to get back into mainstream education by year 11 and take his GCSEs.
Taejon Joseph-Andrews, 15, was excluded from one school and managed out of three others in just two years
The report calls on the government to introduce legislation to monitor whenever a child is moved out of their school, “to make sure we know where – and whether – our most vulnerable children are being educated.”
It also wants to improve the admissions practices of schools to ensure they do not avoid taking in disadvantaged children.
Read more:
Headteachers ‘receive murder threats’ by pupils’ parents
Police called to primary school after pupil caught with knife
It suggests that an investment of £850m for inclusion would support half a million children, reduce lost learning and ultimately pay for itself.
Kiran Gill told Sky News ‘for every permanently excluded child, we’ve got 10 more who are invisibly moving around the system’
Kiran Gill from The Difference told Sky News: “For every permanently excluded child we know they are going to cost the state at least £170,000 because they are going to struggle to access work, we will lose tax receipts, we are going to have higher benefits expenditure.
“But that’s just the kids we know about. For every permanently excluded child, we’ve got 10 more who are invisibly moving around the system.”
Liverpool have won the Premier League title after a 5-1 victory over Tottenham at Anfield.
Arne Slot’s men did it in impressive style, turning over Spurs in a convincing win.
It was a rocky start for the Reds after Dominic Solanke put the north London side ahead.
However, fortunes quickly changed in the first half as Liverpool scored three times without a response.
Captain Virgil van Dijk (centre) celebrates. Pic: Reuters
Salah on his knees in celebration after the final whistle. Pic: AP
Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott (below) and Jarell Quansah celebrate after full-time. Pic: PA
Slot cheers after the full-time whistle. Pic: AP
In the second half, it took until the 63rd minute for Mohamed Salah to make it 4-1 before a fifth followed.
The Reds have won the title in manager Arne Slot’s first season in charge, and move level with fierce rivals Manchester United on 20 league championships.
But it makes them arguably the most successful English club ever as they have won more European Cup or Champions League titles.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk told Sky Sports after the final whistle: “It’s special and it’s something that we don’t take for granted. It’s amazing.
“A lot of emotions before the game, during the whole week, but we got the job done and we (are) truly deserved champions of England. (Liverpool is) the most beautiful club in the world and I think we deserve all of this. Let’s enjoy the next couple of weeks and let it sink in.”
Liverpool’s Kostas Tsimikas poses with a Premier League trophy cut out. Pic: Reuters
Manager Arne Slot and his team after the final whistle. Pic: AP
Slot took over last summer from Jurgen Klopp, who guided them to their previous and maiden Premier League title triumph in 2020, when the COVID-19 lockdown saw matches played behind closed doors.
He is the first Dutch manager to win the Premier League and the fifth man to do so in a debut campaign after Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Manuel Pellegrini, and Antonio Conte.
Speaking to Sky Sports he said: “They [the players] did an outstanding job today. The main job was to win. Everyone said we had got it already. But we had to make sure and we got over the line.”
Several players, including Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, and Mohamed Salah, played leading roles in both the 2025 and 2020 campaigns.
Van Dijk and Salah recently signed new contracts extending their careers at the club.
Mohamed Salah takes a selfie with fans after scouring the fourth Liverpool goal. Pic: AP
Fans at Anfield during the game. Pic: AP
Fans in the stands at Anfield before full-time. Pic: Reuters
Liverpool will have to wait until the final game of the season – at home to Crystal Palace on 25 May – to be presented with the Premier League trophy.
It will be the first time the club’s fans will have seen their side lift the top-flight title in person since 1990.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
Two pro-Palestinian demonstrators have thrown red powder on Tower Bridge – just moments before leading runners in the London Marathon went past.
The protesters were arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance and remain in custody, said the Metropolitan Police.
A video shared by Youth Demand, which is calling for a trade embargo on Israel, shows two people jumping over a barrier that separates spectators from the race course.
The pair, wearing t-shirts that say “Youth Demand: Stop Arming Israel”, are then seen standing in the middle of the road on the bridge.
Pic: LNP
They throw red powder in the air as an official marathon car goes past displaying the race time.
A motorbike with a cameraman on board continues along the route, while a second motorbike stops and one of the riders gets off and pushes the pair out of the way, just before the men’s elite runners pass.
Several police officers then jump over the barrier and detain the pair, the footage shows.
There appeared to be no impact on the marathon.
More than 56,000 participants were expected to take part in the 26.2-mile race through the capital.
Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the men’s elite race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 27 seconds, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa shattered the women’s-only world record in two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds.
Assefa beat the previous best of two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds set last year in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.
Read more:
Sky’s Beth Rigby running marathon in honour of ‘dearest friend’
Badenoch does not rule out local coalitions with Reform
Pic: LNP
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “At around 10.38am, two protesters from Youth Demand jumped over barriers at Tower Bridge and threw red paint on to the road.
“Marathon event staff intervened to remove the protesters from the path of the men’s elite race which was able to pass unobstructed.”
The force added that they were “quickly supported by police officers who arrested the protesters on suspicion of causing a public nuisance”.
The Met said the paint “appeared to be chalk-based” and was not expected to “present a hazard to runners yet to pass this point”.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway