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£800,000 of funding 'to boost school attendance'

Education Minister Leighton Andrews has announced £800,000 of funding to improve school attendance levels across Wales.

Figures for 2011/12 show that primary school attendance stood at 93.8% – an improvement of 0.5% on the previous year.

Figures for secondary school attendance in Wales showed a similar improvement, with overall attendance rate in Wales’ secondary schools in 2011/12 standing at 92.2% – a rise of 0.8% on the previous year.

But the Education Minister says there is 'still work to be done' to tackle absenteeism.

“It’s clear that the actions we are taking to reduce absenteeism from schools in Wales are having a positive impact.

However, whilst it is encouraging to see an upturn in attendance rates this year there is still work to be done. We need to ensure local authorities and schools have the skills, confidence and capacity to sustain and build on these improvements.

Persistent absenteeism has a detrimental effect on a child’s education. Put simply, when a child is not in school that child is not learning.

– Leighton Andrews AM