A new programme has been launched to further boost and promote school attendance in Swansea.
The Incentivising Attendance Programme is aimed at building on record attendance at Swansea’s schools in the 2015/2016 academic year.
Children, classes and schools with improved attendance will be rewarded at half-termly events as part of the Swansea Council programme.
The programme has been launched with a poster designed by Cora Ellacott, a year four pupil at Brynmill Primary School. Her poster design, which won a Swansea-wide competition, features a character called the Mighty Attender who promotes the benefits of school attendance.
Cora has now been congratulated for her design by Full Council in a meeting at Guildhall.
Cllr Jen Raynor, Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Education, said: “Attendance at school is crucially important because it increases a child’s chances of achieving their full potential, helping pave the way for successful careers in the workplace.
“Figures show attendance in Swansea’s secondary schools rose to 94.32% in the last academic year, with attendance at our primary schools reaching 94.9%.
“But while this level of attendance is extremely encouraging, we’re determined to build on these strong foundations, which is why the Incentivising Attendance Programme has been launched with young Cora’s fantastic poster.
“We’ll continue to work closely with pupils, parents, schools and governors to further improve school attendance in future.”
Recent figures released by the Welsh Government and the Local Government Data Unit show every child in Swansea leaves school with a recognised qualification, school attendance is among the most improved in Wales and the city’s GCSE results are among the best in the country.
The Local Authority Performance Bulletin is produced every year to compare all 22 Welsh local authorities across a range of services.
On attendance figures, Swansea was placed 20th among its local government peers for primary school attendance and 16th for secondary school three years ago.
Now both have improved to 11th and are within 1% of the top-performing local authority in Wales.
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