Vale of Glamorgan Council has launched a campaign to address a gap in attendance across the county. 

The Council will be working with schools to encourage pupils and their parents to make attending school every day a priority, in an attempt to bring attendance back up to above 95% across the county.  

 Since the Covid 19 pandemic schools across Wales have seen a drop in attendance. In the Vale of Glamorgan attendance levels have decreased on average by 5% in primary schools and 10% in secondary schools.  

 The campaign demonstrates the wider benefits of improving school attendance. Schools offer so many opportunities to meet a young person's social, emotional and educational needs and poor attendance can ultimately reduce opportunities for children and young people in the future.

 The campaign's key message is 'Strong Attendance for a Bright Future'.

Cllr Rhiannon Birch, Cabinet Member for Education, Arts and the Welsh Language, said: "We want to see attendance improve so that every young person in the Vale is engaged with their school and their learning. Pupils should be encouraged to take advantage of all the opportunities that schools offer in order to succeed. 

"95% attendance might sound like an ambitious target, however that allows for five days absence in the school year, if it is needed due to illness, and this target is achievable for the majority of children and young people. 

"We know statistically pupils have a better chance of succeeding in education and later in life by consistently attending school."

Young people have been engaged in designing this new campaign to encourage families, children and young people to remind everyone of what there is to gain through good attendance at school. 

Pupils in Llantwit Major School designed their own banners to encourage better attendance and this was the basis for the wider campaign that will be rolled out to all schools across the county.