By Jonathon Hill,Local Democracy Reporter,Twm Owen
Copyright walesonline
Parents who work from home are reportedly telling schools they see no reason why their children can’t do the same, a Welsh council has heard. A senior councillor in Monmouthshire who used to be in charge of education and was a headmaster made the claim in a council scrutiny meeting on the wellbeing of young people on Wednesday. Councillor Martyn Groucutt told councillors that parents working from home is contributing to ongoing poor attendance rates. He said school attendance hasn’t recovered in the region since the pandemic when lockdown meant most pupils were told to stay at home and engage in online learning. The annual report from Monmouthshire County Council’s director of education for 2024/25 indicated “overall attendance of pupils in Monmouthshire schools, post-pandemic, has improved” with primary school attendance “moving rapidly towards pre-pandemic levels”, but described attendance in secondary schools as “slower to recover”. For the biggest stories in Wales first, sign up to our daily newsletter Statistics reveal that overall attendance in Monmouthshire rose to 90% in the 2023/24 academic year, a one per cent increase compared to the all-Wales figure. Both figures marked a 0.5 per cent improvement from the previous year. Primary school attendance in Monmouthshire was recorded at 93.6%, higher than the 92.2% average across Wales. Secondary school attendance stood at 88.2%, slightly above the all-Wales figure of 88.1%. The Welsh Government has previously stated that “good attendance” is typically around 95%. The Welsh Government issued new guidance on school attendance two years ago due to concerns that it hadn’t bounced back after the 2020 Covid lockdowns, which led to extended school closures into 2021. The definition of “persistent absence” was also altered from a child missing more than 20% of half-day school sessions or 10 full school days to the figure used in England of 10% or five school days. During a county council scrutiny meeting, discussing a well-being plan, Cllr Groucutt said: “There is an elephant in the room. Since the pandemic too many families have stopped sending their children to school regularly. “Attendance has still not caught up to attendance we were used to over time. Parents are contacting schools and saying: ‘I’m working from home three days a week, why can’t my children do the same?’ It doesn’t work like that.” The retired former headteacher and education officer mentioned friends of his have home schooled their children, which he characterised as a “very far from easy thing to do” but stated that attending school remains the most appropriate form of education for the majority of youngsters. “I’m not saying home education should never happen but the vast, vast majority of children need to be with their friends, peers and community learning,” he argued. The Abergavenny Labour councillor, who stood down as Monmouthshire County Council’s cabinet member for education in May, said he’d recently become chair of governors at Cross Ash Primary School and noted attendance for pupils in the reception class during the first month of the new term beginning in September was “about 98%”. “I just hope they realise it’s not just a month – it goes on until they are 18 years old,” he said. Compulsory schooling in Wales ends at 16 years of age.
