•••ExclusiveRichardAdamsEducationeditorOnein10pupilsintheirGCSEyearhavebeenabsentfromschoolinEnglandeachdaythisyear,up70%sincebeforetheCovidpandemic,aGuardianinvestigationhasfound.Thousandsmoreareattendingpart-timeasanxiety,illnessandthecostoflivingcrisisleadtoabsences,includ-ingagrowingrateofunauthorisedabsences,whicharemorethantwiceashighastheywerebeforeCovid.AnalysisofstateschoolrollsbytheFFTDatalabresearchconsultancyestimatesthatyear11students,aged15-16andstudyingfortheirGCSEexams,missed4.5%ofallsessionsforunauthorisedreasonsuptomid-May,comparedwith2.1%in2018-19.Combinedwithafurther6.4%ofsessionsmissedthroughillnessorotherauthorisedreasons,year11st...