Let’s talk about attendance… and body image
Kids have barely got back into the classrooms and already attendance is hitting headlines. But are conversations around data, overpriced holidays and fines for non-compliant parents hiding the truth behind school absence?
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has urged schools and families to “double down” on ensuring children get “off to a good start” this September. She cited Department for Education data showing that even missing just some of the first week of term is linked with persistent absence later in the year.
But while these calls reflect a growing urgency around tackling low attendance figures, the current focus on the cost of holidays, parental compliance and penalties risks missing the deeper, emotional and systemic issues that are keeping children away from school. At the Boddy Happy Org, we believe one important, often overlooked, factor is body image.
A missing piece of the attendance puzzle?
Recent years have seen a sharp rise in persistent absence across England. While some of this can be traced to Covid-era disruption, attendance remains substantially lower than pre-pandemic levels – especially among pupils with SEND, anxiety or complex needs. And some campaigners have pointed towards issues with the school environment.
Responding to the Education Secretary, Dr Natasha Holden, a clinical psychologist and parent, argues that children who miss the first week haven’t just had a bad start: “they're likely facing underlying challenges that make school psychologically unsafe. When 1.6 million pupils are persistently absent, that's not a compliance problem – it’s a design failure.”
One of those challenges could be body dissatisfaction and appearance-based stigma. The Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition found that children and young people experiencing bullying can be disproportionately impacted by both school absence and mental health problems. Research also shows that over half of children and young people report being bullied about the way they look, while 26% of girls avoid lessons due to appearance anxiety. And these negative body image cycles can begin as early as five years old.
Body respect is a school issue
Too often, body image is seen solely as a mental health issue. But the evidence is clear – body image challenges directly affect learning, safeguarding and equality of opportunity, making them a core educational concern.
At Body Happy Org, we are working to strengthen understanding that poor body image and appearance-based bullying are early risk factors for disordered eating. But they can also cause anxiety and depression, and undermine confidence, participation, attendance and attainment.
Our Body Happy Schools Programme – supported by the Fair Education Alliance and the subject of a research partnership with the University of Lincoln – is the UK’s first systemic approach to embedding body respect in schools. The whole-school programme builds classroom cultures of body respect through staff training, student workshops and assemblies, support for parents and caregivers, educational resources and a peer advocacy programme.
The results from our recent pilots speak for themselves:
Staff confidence to support students around body image and stigma rise from 57.1% to 90.5%.
85% of children feel more positive about their own bodies after one of our workshops.
Students in our Year 5–6 pilot were twice as likely to use positive words about their bodies after the workshop.
100% of pilot schools are now embedding body respect into staff development, curriculum or pastoral systems.
One school has already received positive Ofsted feedback referencing our programme and its ripple effects across safeguarding and student voice.
These aren’t just soft outcomes. They reflect stronger relationships, safer learning environments and fewer appearance-based barriers to participation – all of which support attendance, engagement and achievement.
Time for change
If we’re going to tackle persistent absence and support pupil achievement, we need to go behind the headlines and the numbers. Fines and attendance hubs may play a role, but they cannot resolve the deeper issues that push pupils out of school in the first place.
The proposed Children’s Wellbeing in Schools Bill and the campaign for a national wellbeing measurement programme are positive signs of change. And at the Body Happy Org, we believe body respect should be part of this work. It should be recognised as a core school improvement issue, with implications for safeguarding, mental health, behaviour and equality of opportunity.
If we want to improve attendance, we must also improve belonging. And that means embedding body respect in schools. It’s not a “nice to have” – it’s a necessary foundation for learning, wellbeing, and full participation. Let’s ensure our education system is ready to support every child, in every body. Sign up your school to the Happy Body Schools programme today.
