Welsh Government announces new £8.8m plan to get truanting kids back to school

More than four years after classrooms first closed in the pandemic school attendance in Wales still trails more than 4% below pre-pandemic levels. Persistent absence is also a stubborn problem with 3% of Wales' 469,00 pupils missing 10% or more school sessions in the last school year, rising to 7.2% of those eligible for free school meals, latest Welsh Government data shows.

After repeated attempts to get to grips with the matter the Welsh Government is today (December 3) announcing it is pumping in £8.8m in to try to get children and teenagers back into classrooms. Latest official data shows average attendance for the 2023/24 academic year in Wales was 90.2% compared to 94.3% in the last pre-pandemic year of 2018/19.

The Welsh Government believes family engagement officers (FEOs) are key to encouraging pupils back, with £1.5m of the £8.8m to be used to increase these posts. Announcing the cash, the government said improving school standards was a priority and, despite problems, attendance had increased slightly this year by 0.5% compared to last. You can read more about how some schools are encouraging chidlren in here

FEOs are employed by schools to help build relationships between schools and families. They offer support and try to keep families engaged with their child’s school. You can get more story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.

Announcing the new funding, the Welsh Government said “They (FEOs) work to improve attendance by understanding the broader factors that may be preventing the child from wanting to attend school and working with families to tackle these. They play an important role within community-focused schools, helping to make families feel welcomed, listened to, and valued which has shown a positive impact on attendance.”

The Welsh Government has already invested £6.5m this year to support around 200 FEO posts. Cabinet Secretary for Education, Lynne Neagle said: “Improving attendance is one of my top priorities. I am happy to see that attendance has improved, but more work needs to be done to tackle the underlying issues causing absenteeism.

“This is why I am so proud to announce additional funding to recruit and train more FEOs this financial year. I will build on this valuable support further with additional funding in the next financial year to ensure we can increase and retain these roles. FEOs are vital in facilitating a relationship between families and schools and in doing so help tackle the root causes of absenteeism. Their work has already had high levels of success, and I look forwarding to seeing the continued improvement for our learners.”

Measures some schools have taken to encourage children and teenagers to attend include reduced timetables, shorter lessons, their own learning area, wellbeing help and areas and work experience. Carrots and sticks in some schools include prizes for those who come in and not being able to compete in school sports for those who don't. Wellbeing dogs working in some schools are available to those who engage.

Reasons for children not coming in include higher reported rates of mental health issues and anxiety and getting out of the habit of coming in to school.