Half of secondary pupils avoided school in past year due to anxiety

Half of secondary pupils have avoided school in the past year because of anxiety, a poll has found.

A survey of 2,000 UK secondary students found 49.5% said they had missed school or avoided school because of feeling anxious at some point last academic year

The majority said this had happened less than once a month (22%). However, 5.5% of all pupils surveyed said this happened once a week, 6.7% every two to three weeks, and 8.3% once a month.

Fewer than half (47.4%) said they had never missed or avoided school due to anxiety, and the remaining pupils surveyed said they were not sure or preferred not to say.

Year 13 pupils were six times more likely than year 7 pupils to report avoiding school due to stress, the survey commissioned by online school Minerva Virtual Academy found.

Female pupils reported they had avoided school an average of 26.4 times per year, compared with 16.7 times reported by male pupils.

The most common cause of school anxiety cited was exam and grade pressure (27.6%), followed by being asked to speak in front of the class (21.4%), fear of falling behind (18.2%), worrying about appearance (18.1%) and not fitting in or having friends (17.6%).

More than a third (35%) of pupils surveyed by Censuswide said they felt teachers rarely or never understood their anxiety.

Hugh Viney, founder of Minerva Virtual Academy, said teachers are not to blame.

“They want to be there to nurture every child but the system is too overloaded and that’s where blind spots appear,” he said.

Schools have been facing an absence crisis since the pandemic, with persistent absence – which means missing 10% or more of classes – soaring to 22.3% in 2021/22. It has since fallen to 17.6% in the latest data but remains significantly above pre-pandemic rates.

Pupils classified as severely absent – missing half or more of their sessions – is still increasing, according to Department for Education figures, reaching 2.3% in 2024/25.

Teaching unions have been calling for more investment in mental health services to help tackle the absence crisis.

The Government has said all schools will be covered by mental health support teams by 2029/30, with an aim for six in 10 pupils to have access to mental health teams by March 2026.

Published: 12/12/2025 by Radio NewsHub