Ofsted ‘alarmed’ by increasing absences and ‘flexi-schooling’

Sir Martyn Oliver, the chief inspector of Ofsted,  said he was worried about a rise in “flexi-schooling”, where parents educate their children at home for part of the week and the ‘alarming’ numbers of children who are missing from education.  

Around 158,000 children missed at least half of their classes in the autumn and spring terms of the last academic year, it said, citing the latest DfE figures.