Nearly one in five school sessions in England were missed during the peak of last month’s heatwave, new figures reveal. On June 26, when temperatures soared to a punishing 37.7C and parts of the country were under a rare "red" warning for extreme heat, the pupil absence rate reached an estimated 18.4 per cent. This absence rate measures the proportion of school sessions missed in state-funded schools, with one session equivalent to half a day.