Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Percentage of Moray pupils with persistently poor attendance record doubles in five years

With pupils having been back in the classroom for almost two years, attendance rates are continuing to fall. Moray Council cites poor mental health, complex additional needs, scarlet fever, flu and sickness bugs as factors

As many as 15.3% of Moray secondary pupils have been absent for more than 20% of school days this year, while primary school absence in the region has doubled in the last five years.
As many as 15.3% of Moray secondary pupils have been absent for more than 20% of school days this year, while primary school absence in the region has doubled in the last five years.

The percentage of Moray pupils with persistently poor school attendance has doubled in the last five years.

Figures obtained by the P&J show that 5.8% of primary pupils have an attendance record below 80% this school year.

In 2018-19, this was only 2.7%.

And attendance is significantly poorer in the region’s secondary schools.

As many as 15.3% of secondary pupils have been absent for more than 20% of school days this year. That compares to 9.1% in 2018/19, an increase of 68%.

While Covid partly explains a jump in school absence from 2019/20 to 2020/21, schools have now been back full-time for almost two years.

And attendance rates continue to fall.

‘Many reasons why young people may not feel able to attend school’

A Moray Council spokeswoman said the region had made ‘significant progress’ in improving school attendance before the pandemic.

But she added that the ‘significant disruption’ of Covid had led to a ‘breakdown in routines and reduced engagement.’

She said that while attendance levels had dropped, this is a national pattern.

Pupil attendance has failed to recover since the pandemic.

“There are many reasons why young people may not feel able to attend school, including poor mental health and complex additional needs.

“Attendance has also been impacted by higher levels of scarlet fever, flu and sickness bugs circulating in our communities.”

Attendance of 80% means missing one day of school a week

A national commission on school reform was tasked with investigating the problem of declining school attendance figures late last year.

Its report stated: “When measuring attendance, 90% should be when alarm bells start to ring and early intervention methods kick in.

“Attendance of 90% expressed a different way actually means missing one day per fortnight, while attendance of 80% means missing one day per week.

“Losing this level of schooling can have a huge impact on a child’s education.”

Just 65% of Moray primary pupils meeting required literacy level

Earlier this year we revealed that Moray schools had fallen well behind the national average for literacy and numeracy in every single measure.

In some areas, such as literacy, Moray schools are as much as 14% behind the national average. At primary school level, just 65% of Moray pupils are meeting the required level.

Moray Council hopes to address the problem by hiring more teachers, with extra staff providing additional targeted support to raise attainment based on school need.

Conversation