More than half of children surveyed in Medway struggled with stress during the first national lockdown.

Medway Council commissioned a review into the impact on children's lives during the lockdown last year.

More than 1,100 youngsters aged 11 to 19 took part in the online survey which found while 61% had found the lockdown "ok", 15% felt their lives had been "bad" during lockdown.

Additionally, 51% found their stress hard to cope with and 43% found it hard to cope with anxiety.

One in five also reported not having enough support with their school work and 13% said they didn't have regular access to a computer.

While most (91%) said they had no issue accessing food, 8% said they sometimes had gone hungry or not eaten for a day.

Conversely, 60% said they had spent more time than usual doing activities with their families.

A report presented to members of the council's Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee into the impact of the pandemic on youngsters also looked at attendance levels in Medway schools from September.

Attendance at secondary schools in the Towns dropped dramatically as the weeks went on - while there was 91% attendance in week one, this fell to 58% by the last week of term.

In primary schools, attendance fell from 94% to 71%.

The report outlines how the council responded to the results from the survey which have included investing in its emotional wellbeing team and running sessions on pupil and staff wellbeing in schools.

The results of the survey are due to be discussed at a virtual meeting of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Thursday, January 7.

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