Large numbers of children are still missing school across Wales this term with ripples from Covid disruption still being felt. Pupils in crucial GCSE exam years 10 and 11, and those eligible for free school meals are the most likely to be off this term .
Latest data, published by the W elsh Government shows 58,571 half day school sessions were missed across Wales between October 3-7, nearly 19,000 of which were listed as unauthorised. School leaders have continued to warn of higher than pre-Covid absences and some children have not returned since classrooms first shut in March 2020.
Today's report for school absence this term shows:
- Highest levels of absence are in Neath Port Talbot and the lowest in Powys and Monmouthshire
- Attendance is lowest for pupils in crucial GCSE year 11 and highest for pupils in the first year of secondary
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One in 10 half day school sessions have been missed across Wales since September.
- Pupils eligible for free school meals are twice as likely to be off school compared to better off peers
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There is little difference in attendance rates of girls compared to boys
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47% of absence is reported as due to illness
Read more: Less emphasis on written exams in plans for Welsh GCSEs being put out to consultation
The Welsh Government has changed how it presents school attendance data. It no longer publishes the exact number and percentage rate of pupils attending or absent, Instead it reports the number/percentage of half day school sessions missed.
Average attendance (by half day session) since term began stands at 91.6% with one in 10 half day school sessions missed since September. Releasing the figures the Welsh Government says this academic year's absence data is not comparable with figures for the last two years of the pandemic.
Not only is school attendance data now presented as the percentage of half day sessions missed instead of the percentage of pupils absent but it also covers less pupils. The new data is for pupils of statutory school age only (aged five to 15) instead of data for all ages during the pandemic.
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Average percentage of "sessions of absence" by local education authority:
- Anglesey 8.5%
- Gwynedd 8.5%
- Conwy 8.8%
- Denbighshire 8.7%
- Flintshire 8%
- Wrexham 7.5%
- Powys 7.2%
- Ceredigion 8.3%
- Pembrokeshire 7.9%
- Carmarthenshire 8.7%
- Swansea 8.1%
- Neath Port Talbot 9.6%
- Bridgend 8.2%
- Vale of Glamorgan 7.6%
- Rhondda Cynon Taf 9%
- Merthyr Tydfil 8.8%
- Caerphilly 8.8%
- Blaenau Gwent 9.4%
- Torfaen 9.1%
- Monmouthshire 7.2%
- Newport 8%
- Cardiff 8.1%
- Wales total 8.5%
The report says the attendance figures are not comparable to the last two years of the pandemic, so comparisons should not be made: “All data in this headline is based on the definition of attendance that was in use and published before the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. The data here are not comparable with the data published during the pandemic for 2020/21 and 2021/22.”
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