The number of children persistently missing school in Wales has more than trebled since the Covid-19 pandemic.
It’s led Education Minister Jeremy Miles to label the situation a “national priority.”
In 2019, roughly one in every 20 secondary school pupils in Wales was classed as persistently absent, meaning they missed at least one day a week on average.
Now it’s around one in six.
It’s prompted the Welsh Government to issue new guidance which aims to trigger earlier intervention when children start missing more school.
Speaking to ITV Wales’s Sharp End programme, Mr Miles said: “All the things that we’re doing in school around literacy and numeracy, giving our young people that range of experiences as part of a rounded education, all the work around attainment, none of that you can benefit from if you’re a young person who’s not at school.
“So it’s really important that we make sure young people are in school with their peers, learning face to face with their teachers.”
