Warning as more parents take their children on term time holidays
MORE parents are taking primary school children in Wales out of school for holidays – and many aren’t asking permission, new figures have shown.
Term-time holidays were responsible for more than one in 10 absences from local authority primary schools in Wales last year – the highest rate for seven years.
The Welsh Government has said parents in Wales can take children out of school in term time provided they have permission.
The new figure show that the percentage of absence due to agreed holidays rose from 9% in 2015/16 to 11.6% last year.
At the same time, the absence due to family holidays that had not been agreed by schools hit 10.9% last year.
In Bridgend county the percentage of half-day sessions missed due to unauthorised absence remains steady at 1%, below the Welsh average of 1.1%, while the percentage of half-day sessions missed due to overall absence rose from 4.7% in 2015/16 to 4.9% in 2016/17, although it is below the Welsh average.
Other findings from the report include:
56.0% of absence from primary schools was due to illness;
Truancy levels are at their highest for a decade at 1.1%, a similar level to last year;
The numbers of pupils persistently missing classes (more than 20% of school) is half what it was a decade ago at one in 70.
Across Wales, Swansea primaries had the most improved attendance rates of all 22 local education authorities last year, while those in Merthyr Tydfil had the highest overall absence rate of 5.7% in 2016-17 and Monmouthshire the lowest at 4.4%.
Education Secretary Kirsty Williams said : “Absenteeism from our primary schools has fallen over the last decade.
“Once again, I want to thank pupils, parents and teachers for their hard work in achieving this. If our young people are going to achieve their full potential, going to school regularly is crucial.
“Despite the progress we have seen, we can’t afford to be complacent and we will continue to take action to improve attendance in our schools.
“Understanding the needs of individual learners and providing the right support at the right time is what can make all the difference.”
A Welsh Government spokesman said: “Regular and consistent attendance at school is important in ensuring children and young people are given the best chance to achieve their full potential.
“We have maintained a consistent position on holidays in term time. Regulations in Wales provide head teachers with discretionary powers to authorise leave for a family holiday during term time where parents seek permission.
“Unless there are exceptional circumstances, no more than 10 days leave should be granted for this purpose. Fixed penalty notices can be issued to address regular nonattendance at school and local authorities should have robust evidence before issuing a penalty.”