More than 700 new Covid cases have been reported in schools across Wales as restrictions in the community are eased. An average of 15,515 children missed school for a known Covid-related reason in the week of March 21-25, official Welsh Government figures show.
A total of 768 new Covid cases were reported by schools in the week to March 23 which is down nearly 300 on the previous week, separate data from Public Health Wales reveals. With only one more week until term ends thousands of children are still missing school every day in Wales.
More than one in 10 are off with just 86.6% of all pupils going to school in the week to March 25 – that was down 1% on the previous week and part of a continuing pattern of falling attendance. Head teachers have warned of the chaos in schools at present – you can read more about that here.
Read more: How the fuel duty cut has actually affected petrol prices in Wales one week on
More than 90,000 children have missed two to three weeks of face-to-face school since September and 362,122 pupils have missed more than a week for any reason in that time. Among statutory-age pupils attendance is worst among key GCSE year 11s with 15% of those now absent, Welsh Government data published on March 30 shows.
Separate data from Public Health Wales shows that schools Covid cases fell in every local authority area except two in the week to March 23. Most cases continue to be in primary schools. Neath Port Talbot Council reported 36 schools Covid cases in the week to March 23, a rise of six on the previous week, while Merthyr logged 14 cases in the same period, a rise of just one.
Of the 768 cases among staff and pupils in the week to March 23 a total of 447 were in primaries, 218 in secondaries, and 103 in “other” which includes independent schools, special schools, and pupil referral units. In the previous week there were 670 cases in primaries, 277 in high schools, and 114 in “other”.
Schools Covid cases by local health board and council area in the week to March 23 with the difference to the previous week in brackets
Aneurin Bevan UHB
Blaenau Gwent 30 (-3)
Caerphilly 37 (-7)
Monmouthshire 39 (equal)
Newport 79 (-5)
Torfaen 15 (-18)
Total 200 (-33)
Betsi Cadwaladr UHB
Isle of Anglesey 11 (-1)
Conwy 16 (-4)
Denbighshire 37 (-13)
Flintshire 43 (-22)
Gwynedd 21 (-10)
Wrexham 48 (-14)
Total 176 (-64)
Cardiff and Vale UHB
Cardiff 54 (-21)
Vale of Glamorgan 28 (-16)
Total 82 (-37)
Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB
Bridgend 33 (-14)
Merthyr Tydfil 14 (+1)
Rhondda Cynon Taf 84 (-19)
Total 131 (-32)
Hywel Dda UHB
Carmarthenshire 24 (-29)
Ceredigion 26 (-26)
Pembrokeshire 21 (-10)
Total 71 (-65)
Powys Teaching HB
Powys 34 (-46)
Swansea Bay UHB
Neath Port Talbot 36 (+6)
Swansea 38 (-22)
Swansea Bay UHB 74 (-16)
Wales Total 768 (-293)
Overall attendance
Separate Welsh Government figures show that school absence continues to be a stubborn problem. In the week to March 25 some 29,705 school sessions were missed for Covid-related reasons.
Attendance by year group March 21-25
Reception - 87.1%
Year 1 - 88.2%
Year 2 - 88.8%
Year 3 - 88.7%
Year 4 - 88.8%
Year 5 - 88.5%
Year 6 - 88.2%
Year 7 - 87.1%
Year 8 - 86.9%
Year 9 - 85.4%
Year 10 - 85.7%
Year 11 - 85.4%
Year 12 - 81.4%
Year 13 - 73.6%
Numbers of secondary school pupils absent by day March 21-25 for all reasons
March 21 - 11,339
March 22 - 11,343
March 23 - 10,862
March 24 - 10,764
March 25 - 5,414
Numbers of primary children absent by day March 21-25 for all reasons
March 21 - 33,680
March 22 - 30,986
March 23 - 29,486
March 24 - 30,277
March 25 - 16,481
The average number of children off school for a Covid-related reason between March 21-25 was 15,515 (4%). That was up from 15,399 (3.5% the week before) and 7,879 (1.7%) the week before that.
School attendance in the week to March 21-25
- 86.6% of all pupils attended school on average – down from 87.3% the week before. The figure for March 14-18 has been revised down from 87.6%.
- 4% of pupils were absent due to a known Covid-related reason.
- 4.7% of all primary pupils were absent for a known Covid-related reason.
- 3.5% of all secondary pupils were absent due to a known Covid-related reason.
- Boys were more likely to attend than girls.
- Amongst statutory school-age pupils attendance was highest for pupils in Year Two and Year Four (88.8%) and lowest for pupils in years nine and 11 (85.4%).
- Pupils entitled to free school meals are less likely to attend school with the gap being an average of 5.8 percentage points between March 21-25.
- 22.1% of pupils (104,825 pupils) have missed more than a week of face-to-face learning due to a known Covid-related reason since September 6, 2021, (5.5 days or more) and 76.5% of pupils (362,122 pupils) have missed more than a week for any reason since that date.
