Half our children ‘avoided class for anxiety’

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

- BY JASMINE NORDEN

A survey of 2,000 students found 49.5% said they had missed or avoided school due to feeling anxious in the past academic year.

A fifth (22%) said this had happened less than once a month, but 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.