As schools prepare to go back after half term latest official figures show absence is still a major problem in Wales. As many as one in seven children of statutory school age did not attend school in the week before the break - more than 24,000 in total.
Just over 8,000 school sessions were missed for agreed family holidays the week before half term, the Welsh Government data also shows. Headteachers' leaders described the continued high absence levels as "extremely worrying" - pre Covid attendance stood at around 94% for secondaries and 95% for primaries on average.
And in in total tens of thousands of children have missed a month or more of face to face school this academic year. School leaders have warned that persistent absence has now reached levels where it risks affecting children’s futures - pre Covid attendance stood at around 94% for secondaries and 95% for primaries on average but it is now "creaking" at 85.6%.
