Cheshire West and Chester pupils – including those from Winsford – missed among the least face-to-face teaching in the autumn term due to Covid-19, figures reveal.

Pupils across Cheshire West and Chester missed the equivalent of 132,151 days of in-person education between September and December for this reason, Department for Education figures show.

That was an absence rate of 4.3 per cent – among the lowest in England – and equivalent to roughly three days per pupil.

The absence rate in Cheshire West and Chester for the autumn term was around 4.4 per cent, which was slightly lower than 5.2 per cent the previous year.

Despite the low rates in Cheshire West and Chester, in Cheshire East, pupils missed more than 160,000 days of face-to-face teaching in the autumn term due to the virus.

Pupils across Cheshire East, which includes those at Middlewich schools, missed the equivalent of 169,598 days of in-person education between September and December for this reason, Department for Education figures show.

That was an absence rate of 5.2 per cent, and equivalent to roughly four days per pupil.

All figures include state-funded primary, secondary and special schools in the area.

Schools recorded general absence – including when authorised and unauthorised – separately, although this could include a child being ill due to having Covid-19.

The absence rate in Cheshire East for the autumn term was around 4.3 per cent, which was slightly lower than 4.9 per cent the previous year.

Across England, the overall absence rate for the autumn term was 4.7 per cent – broadly in line with 4.9 per cent a year earlier.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the figures show the autumn term was “an extremely turbulent period” for pupils.

“This difficult situation was compounded by significant problems early in the term, obtaining Covid tests for pupils and staff and in obtaining public health support in handling positive cases,” he said.

“The Government’s refusal to give schools any flexibility to finish in-school teaching early before Christmas, which was accompanied by threats of legal action, made matters even worse.”

Schools were “badly let down” by government leadership during the autumn term, Mr Barton added, including by the “painfully slow” rollout of laptops for disadvantaged children that made remote education harder.