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An inquiry was launched today to track down tens of thousands of children who have 'fallen off the radar' and not returned to the classroom after lockdown.
Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children's Commissioner for England, said pupils disappearing from the school roll - estimated at between 80,000 and 100,000 - was a 'major red flag'.
She warned the murder of six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, who was tortured, poisoned and eventually beaten to death by his father and stepmother during the first lockdown, showed why 'vulnerable children need to be in school'.
Dame Rachel de Souza said pupils disappearing from the school roll - estimated at between 80,000 and 100,000 - was a 'major red flag'
'We are always worried about children being pulled into gangs because they are not in school, we are worried about children with huge family safeguarding issues, we are worried about their mental health needs not being met, so they are falling right off the radar,' Dame Rachel told the Telegraph.
'I just don't think we should underestimate the safeguarding side as well, especially coming in wake of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes' murder.
'The
