Have you heard of the “six-week leavers”? This is a group of 16-19 students who leave their college course within the first 42 days of term, don’t move on to another course at the same college, and become completely invisible to the system.

They are not small in number. There are, literally, thousands of these students. And because they leave within six weeks of the start of academic year, they don’t appear in official college statistics.

In 2016, Tes revealed that more than 30,000 young people were leaving colleges each year before that cut-off point. At the time, the data collected over two years from colleges showed that the number of full-time 16-19 learners dropping out of their programmes in the first six weeks had increased by more than 13 per cent.

These departures come with little attention, and even less backlash, and so, inevitably, there will be cases where staff encourage students to leave before they become relevant to the institution’s success rates.

This isn’t the whole story. The reason why these students have left is often completely unknown.

It can range from finding another course or an apprenticeship elsewhere to their care responsibilities simply not allowing them to continue, from mental health issues to financial pressures.

So what can the sector do? College and charity leaders have called for better careers information and guidance and the NUS has stressed the importance of financial support to ensure students can afford to attend college.

But colleges themselves need to make students feel welcome and supported. Make sure they feel they have made the right choice. Give their parents and carers insight where possible. Make sure that college is opening doors for them, not slamming them in their face.

Julia Belgutay is deputy FE editor at Tes