Camden continues to have poor school attendance

Schools in the London Borough of Camden are battling against persistent absence where an exceptional number of children regularly miss their lessons.

Camden’s rate of persistent absence is higher than both the inner London and national average, with more than 1 in 5 pupils missing more than 1 in 10 of their lessons, according to a report presented to councillors this month.

In February this year a council report ranked the borough 29th out of 32 boroughs for primary absences, and 30th for secondary schools.

Stephen Hall, CEO of the borough’s education partnership Camden Learning, on Monday 10 November told the council’s Children, Schools and Families Scrutiny Committee the borough was making progress from the previous year and had narrowed the attendance gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils.

But there was still a “disproportionate” number of disadvantaged kids, particularly pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, missing their lessons much too often.

Turning to what was driving the problem, Hall said Camden had the highest sickness absence rate of all inner London boroughs, but he also raised the issue of families taking unauthorised holidays during term-time.

The Town Hall has turned to several initiatives to drive attendance up within the borough, including bus stop campaign posters and text messaging hundreds of parents whose children’s attendance fell below 95 per cent.

Earlier this year, a committee member criticised the local authority’s action plan to tackle absences as “quite vague”. Dr Rachel Wrangham, who no longer sits on the panel, said it was important to focus on what was “keeping children out” of school.

Camden Council, Children, Schools and Families Scrutiny Committee, Monday, 10 November 2025. Agenda. Webcast.

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