MORE traveller children have been attending Crays Hill Primary School since the eviction at Dale Farm.

There had been fears Basildon Council’s clearance of the illegal site could threaten the village primary following repeated claims there were up to 150 schoolchildren at Dale Farm – many of whom went to the school.

However, an Essex County Council spokesman said: “In the week prior to the eviction there was an average daily attendance of 20 pupils. Since the eviction and half-term this has increased to around 40.”

She said the school believed there was a lull in attendance before the eviction due to there being so much uncertainty among the families.

However, many of those who left Dale Farm simply moved to the empty legal pitches next door.

It has also emerged that just 25 children on the school roll actually lived at Dale Farm.

Eighty were registered as living on the legal pitches.

David McPherson-Davis, a former governor of the school, said: “None of this adds up. As the legal pitches were empty for so long, how could there have been 80 children from there at the school?

“We were always told there were so many children’s educations at stake at Dale Farm, but with families moving on to empty legal plots, and now this, the question arises were some people at Dale Farm just saying they lived there?”

He also argued 40 pupils going to the school out of a roll of 105 was still “terrible”.

The Echo contacted traveller campaigners Grattan Puxon, Candy Sheridan and Stuart Hardwicke-Carruthers, to question their claims that 150 schoolchildren were on Dale Farm.

However, we received no response.

The school roll fell from about 200 in 2004 after most village parents removed their children from the school following the influx of travellers.

It has recorded the worst attendance rates in the country ever since.