School attendance drops again across Wales despite

SCHOOL attendance in Wales continued to fall before the Easter break, despite a drop in Covid cases.

With exams just weeks away around three in 10 Year 13 A-level pupils and around two in 10 Year 11 GCSE pupils were absent last week. Nearly 15% of pupils failed to turn up to school in the week of April 4 to 8.

The latest Welsh Government figures, published yesterday, also show nearly a quarter of all pupils in Wales (115,663) have missed more than a week of face-toface learning for a known Covid-related reason since the start of the academic year. In the same period nearly eight in 10 pupils (374,623) have missed more than a week for any reason.

Head teachers and teaching unions have warned of their fears over persistently low attendance despite a fall in schools Covid cases. Some have warned children have got out of the habit of going to classes or sticking to timetables during the disruption of the pandemic.

The latest Welsh Government school absence report also shows that in the week April 4-8 a total of 17,720 children were “absent due to Covid”, compared to 24,829 the week before and 36,691 the week before that. On April 8 alone, 1,948 secondary school children and 1,462 primary school were absent for known

Covid-related reasons, but that was also a marked drop on previous weeks.

Separate data from Public Health Wales (PHW) confirms the drop in reported schools Covid cases. Latest PHW figures show around 150 confirmed positive PCR tests per 100,000 five- to 11-year-olds, 12- to 16-year-olds and 17- to 18-year-olds. There were slightly fewer among under-fives. The data covers the period as of April 4.

Referring to both primary- and secondary-age children, PHW’s report said: “Following a rapid increase in LFT positives and a gradual increase in PCR positives since early March, the detected cases have dropped. In the most recent weeks, there has been a decline in both PCR positive episodes and in LFT positive episodes. A similar pattern is seen in the testing rates for this age group.”

Latest Welsh Government figures