Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has vowed to "rebouble efforts" to cut down on the number of children missing classes at schools.She said progress was beginning to be made, despite government figures which showed the number of children in England who missed at least half of their classes rose to nearly 150,000 in autumn last year.Writing in The Daily Telegraph, she reiterated that tackling classroom absences was a "top priority".

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has vowed to "rebouble efforts" to cut down on the number of children missing classes at schools.She said progress was beginning to be made, despite government figures which showed the number of children in England who missed at least half of their classes rose to nearly 150,000 in autumn last year.Writing in The Daily Telegraph, she reiterated that tackling classroom absences was a "top priority".