Claim: Between 95,000 and 135,000 school pupils did not return to school this term.
Fact-check: Claim that up to 135,000 children have not returned to school needs more context - Full Fact
Verdict: this claim is missing context. it is an estimate based on a snapshot of attendance on just one day in september 2021, and does not record persistent absence. the data we have can't be used to reliably show the number of pupils that haven't returned to school at all this term.
Organisation: Full Fact
Author: Sarah Turnnidge
Date published: 2021-10-05T00:00:00