AT LEAST 350 school pupils were absent in Southampton on a day before the Christmas break – because of Covid.

The latest snapshot figures released by the Department for Education are in relation to December 16.

Of them, 252 were off because of a confirmed or suspected case of the virus.

A further 83 pupils were absent due to attendance restrictions in their school, eight pupils were required to remain at home or isolate in line with government guidance, and seven were isolating for other reasons.

Cllr James Baillie said: “The challenges faced due to the Omicron variant of coronavirus are not exclusive to Southampton, with increasing cases across the country before Christmas it was inevitable that we would see an increase in pupil absences due to the virus.

“Our focus is to continue to support schools to minimise disruption to our children’s education. A key element of this is keeping our children in school for face-to-face learning. This is enabled through continued testing in line with national guidance, children having their vaccination if eligible, and to self-isolate when required to do so.”

Including absences for non Covid-related reasons, 85.8% of Southampton pupils were attending class that day, though the DfE warned that just 32% of schools responded.

This was down from 86.9% on December 9.

Across England, 3.7% of pupils were absent for coronavirus-related reasons on December 16 – the most since the start of the school year in September.

Natalie Perera, chief executive of the EPI think tank, said: "Our research has shown an association between pupil absence and higher learning losses, so the high rate of pupils out of school continues to be a concern.

"The Government must closely follow pupil absences this term and consider whether additional financial support to help pupils avoid further learning losses is needed."

She added that staff shortages are likely to persist for some time due to the high level of infection in the general population.