School attendance figures in Pembrokeshire will take years to recover from the impact of the Covid pandemic, members of a council committee heard.

A report before the April 17 meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s Schools and Learning Overview and Scrutiny Committee said that the disruption to education caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has had a lasting detrimental effect on school attendance levels locally, across Wales and the UK, and internationally.

Members heard primary school absence in Pembrokeshire was some four per cent higher than pre-pandemic and secondary school absence around five per cent higher.

The report said that weekly monitoring data currently being published by Welsh Government shows that attendance in Pembrokeshire is higher than the Wales average, and Pembrokeshire ranks eighth out of the 22 Welsh local authorities.

It added: “At the all-Wales level, prior to the pandemic there was a roughly four per cent gap between the absence of pupils eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) and their peers, and a three per cent gap between the ‘all pupils’ figure and that of FSM pupils.

“That gap approximately doubled during the pandemic, and is not yet closing.

“In Pembrokeshire at the primary phase, similar trends are evident. There was a two per cent gap prior to the pandemic, which doubled during the pandemic, and does not appear to be closing.”

The report added: “The scale of the challenge is such that it will likely be another 2-3 years before pre-pandemic levels of school attendance are restored.”

Members heard that last year Pembrokeshire received some £210,000 from the Welsh government ‘Community Focused Schools’ grant, which was deployed to create Family Engagement Officer posts in schools to help tackle the issue.

15 Pembrokeshire schools now have access to an FEO, and an uplift to the grant for the 2023/24 financial year will enable the creation of additional posts.

At the meeting, Councillor Vivian Stoddart asked whether the increase in absenteeism was part of the “law of unintended consequences” of schools having a half day on some Fridays; parents and pupils thinking that missing a half day was of less consequence.

Members heard there was no hard data, but anecdotally, this may have some effect.

Councillor Marc Tierney stressed the importance of focussing on the data, and stressed the role of parents in ensuring their children attended school.

Members agreed an updated report would return to the committee later in the year.