More than 12,000 children missed school in Wales for Covid related reasons last week as cases rise. School leaders warned absence is now at “crisis” levels with so many children and staff off each day - more than one in 10 pupils are now absent on average.
Latest Welsh Government figures shown 12,332 children missed school for a known Covid related reason in the week March 14-18 with 23,500 school sessions missed. That’s up from 7,830 the previous week and 4,290 the week before.
The data, published on March 23 show 3.2% of pupils were off for Covid related reasons in the week to March 18, up from 1.7% the previous week. A further 33,029 school sessions were missed for illness other than Covid. School coronavirus cases have risen slightly as cases in the community also grow. You can see the areas with the highest numbers of schools cases here.
