More children are missing out on their education, as the rate of attendance falls across England’s schools.

The percentage of pupils attending primary and secondary schools fell to 86% last week down from 89% the previous week, government data shows.

The Northern Powerhouse, a group working to redress North-South economic imbalance, says pupils in the North face the most disruption over Covid-19.

The government said some pupils were self-isolating “as we would expect”.

The Department for Education said 55% of secondaries and 20% of primaries in England reported having one or more pupils self-isolating due to potential contact with a case of coronavirus in the school.

This is up from 46% and 16% respectively on the previous week.

Overall attendance at primary school fell from 92% in the week ending 15 October to 90% in the week ending 22 October.

But the drop on the previous week’s attendance was most significant in secondary schools, falling from 87% to 83%.