The organisation claims that attendance is the weakest aspect of pupils’ wellbeing and that it is often poverty and disadvantage that underline more serious attendance and behavioural issues in schools.
In written evidence to the Assembly’s Children and Young People Committee (CYPC), Estyn said pupils from less well off backgrounds are more likely to be absent, more likely to behave in a challenging way, and more likely to be excluded from school.
Latest figures show the overall rate of absence in Welsh secondary schools in 2011/12 was 7.9 per cent, with 10.7 per cent of sessions missed in schools with more than 30 per cent of free school meal entitlement. This compares to 6.3 per cent of sessions in schools with 10 per cent or less pupils on free school meals.
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