Delivery – Services for Children Young People and Families

Swindon Borough Council

ATTENDANCE MATTERS

School Attendance

Guidance,

Roles and Responsibilities

CONTENTS

  1. Introduction and Statement of Intent 3-4
  2. Responsibilities of Schools 5-8
  3. Responsibilities of Parents* 9
  4. Responsibilities of the Borough Council 10
  5. Borough Council Support - the role of Education 11-16

Welfare Officers

  1. Borough Council support - other services 17-19
  2. Multi-agency networks and partnerships 20-21
  3. The 13-19 Programme and developing the Key Stage 4 22

framework for meeting the curriculum needs of

disaffected pupils

  1. Supporting the attendance of vulnerable pupils or pupils 23-25

with additional needs

Appendix 1Key Documents and References 26

Appendix 2Strategies for Improving the Attendance of Traveller 27-28

Appendix 3 Policy for Promoting the Attendance of Children in Care 29-30

* The term ‘parent’ refers to either one, or both, parents, or the child’s carer

1.0INTRODUCTION

Our Ambition for Children and Families in Swindon

Our aim is to co create with families possibilities of change, as early as possible, creating safety and stability for their children both at home and within the community, by promoting healthy lifestyles, building capabilities and strengthening families

1.1The Local Authority recognises that:

a)Regular and punctual school attendance is key to the social and academic development that will improve the life chances of children and young people

b)Children and young people who attend school regularly and punctually are less likely to be at risk, both in terms of engaging in anti-social behaviour and in terms of their own health and safety and welfare

c)Parents have a duty to ensure that their children attend school regularly and punctually in order to get the most benefit from the opportunities available to them

d)Swindon Borough Council is committed to supporting children and young people, schools and families to achieve and maintain good attendance at school.

1.2Why Attendance is important:

a)Children and young people in Swindon come from diverse backgrounds and a range of life experiences. Most attend school regularly and on time, and leave school well equipped for further education and employment, able to contribute significantly to society

b)For a small minority school is a significant place of physical as well as emotional safety and may be the most secure aspect of their lives

c)Children and young people who do not attend school regularly are at risk from a whole range of factors that may lead to poor outcomes, including low attainment and social exclusion. The link between irregular/non-school attendance and poor academic achievement and limited or impoverished life outcomes has been well established. Recent evidence shows that:

  • Only 8% of persistent non-attendees achieve 5 or more A*-C grades (DoE)
  • 33% of persistent non-attendees achieve no qualifications at all (DoE)
  • Persistent non-attendees are more than twice as likely to criminally offend (DoE)
  • Pupils aged 15 who have played truant are more likely to drink alcohol regularly, more than twice as likely to have taken drugs and three times as likely to smoke regularly. They are also at higher risk of teenage pregnancy (DoH)

1.3The Local Authority is therefore committed to improving levels of school attendance and punctuality. It aims to do this by:-

a)Promoting the value and importance of regular school attendance, recognising the diverse needs of our children and young people;

b)Reducing all forms of unjustified absenteeism, especially levels of persistent absenteeism. (A child is classified as being a persistent absentee (PA) if he/she has an absence rate of 15% or more).

c)Ensuring children and young people receive and benefit from services at school and from other agencies that are co-ordinated and integrated.

d)Ensuring that every child, whatever their background has the support they need to be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve economic well-being

1.4In order to improve levels of school attendance and punctuality the Local Authority employs a number of key strategies which include:-

a)The provision of support and challenge to all schools through the statutory education welfare service offer

b)The provision of consistent and equitable support to parents, ensuring, through an appropriate balance of assistance and insistence that all parents are able to meet their legal responsibilities in relation to school attendance;

c)The development of effective integrated working practices in order to facilitate early help that makes a difference.

1.5In developing its policy and practice for promoting school attendance the Local Authority will endeavour to ensure that the need to recognise the national context and central government priorities is balanced by the need to respond to the local context and particular priorities within Swindon

2.0RESPONSIBILITIES OF SCHOOLS

2.1Schools are responsible for supporting the attendance of their pupils

and for identifying and responding to barriers and issues that might lead to non-attendance

2.2Schools that adopt a positive and proactive approach towards attendance matters and encourage parents to take an active role in the schooling of their children, can play a major role in improving levels of attendance and punctuality and in reducing absenteeism.

2.3It is a legal requirement that schools will:-

a)Be open to all pupils for 380 sessions each school year;

b)Maintain attendance registers (either manual or computerised) in accordance with the relevant regulations (see Appendix 1); ( Good practice for secondary schools is to maintain a separate PA register and to monitor PA as a discrete category of absenteeism)

c)Accurately record and monitor all absenteeism and lateness

d)Clearly distinguish between absence which is authorised and absence which is unauthorised according to criteria laid down by the DoE (schools should remind parents that it is the decision of the head teacher as to whether or not an absence will be authorised);

e)Submit absence returns through School Census and publish information relating to levels of attendance and absence and include details of these in the school’s prospectus and annual report

Each School must:

  • Monitor attendance / late arrivals
  • Contact parents on the first day of absence and subsequent days.
  • Write to parents where attendance and punctuality is a concern
  • Invite parents to a meeting in school with either the Head of Year (secondary schools) or Head teacher (Primary Schools). Minutes of the meeting should be taken and an agreed action plan made. A copy of the minutes should be given to the parents as well as a copy being kept on the child’s file.
  • A School’s responsibility when attendance is still a concern following the agreed time scale is to request support from the Legal Lead Officer for Attendance.
  • Schools are responsible for making every attempt to visit the family home in the case of a child missing education (CME) before a referral is made to the CME officer, based within the Local Authority.

2.4A school attendance policy communicates values and expectations to the school community and outlines strategies for promoting attendance. It is clear that the complex nature of attendance issues requires the involvement of parents/carers, pupils, teachers and support staff, as well as external agencies, in the process of developing an effective school policy. The policy should give clear guidance on practice and be clear to parents, pupils and staff.

When drawing up an attendance policy schools may wish to consider the following:

  • How to communicate the evidence that education is important
  • Stating why the school thinks attendance is important
  • Using language that is accessible to all
  • Positively phrasing statements
  • How the policy integrates with all other school policies
  • Where the additional financial and staffing resources will be procured from.

When considering a School Attendance Policy it should endeavour to including the following:

School Attendance Policy

INTRODUCTION

This may include:

  • Your overall mission statement or school motto
  • How you communicate your belief and the evidence that education is important
  • The link between attendance and attainment
  • The start and finish of school sessions
  • When parents will be provided with dates of school terms and INSET dates

AIMS AND TARGETS

These may include:

  • Ensuring that parents, pupils and all school staff understand the procedures and expectations about attendance
  • How you will communicate these expectations to parents, pupils and staff

RIGHTS, RESPONSIBILITIES, ROLES AND EXPECTATIONS

These may include:

  • The LAs responsibility to offer educational provision for those of compulsory school age
  • The parents’ right to express a preference for a school
  • The legal position (Education Act 1996) and that parents are responsible for ensuring their children attend
  • The legal position regarding taking a register (The Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations 2006)
  • Who in the school has responsibility for managing attendance overall and how this is delegated
  • What the parents and pupils can expect from the school
  • What the school expects from its pupils
  • What the school expects form tutors to do
  • Who the attendance officer is or the person with responsibility for attendance and what they will do
  • What the Local Authority’s Legal Lead for Attendance will do.
  • What are acceptable reasons for absence (school can/will authorise) and what are unacceptable reasons for absence (school cannot/will not authorise)
  • Taking family holidays in term-time
  • Dental, optical and GP appointments in school time

PROCEDURES – WHO DOES WHAT AND WHEN,

This may include:

  • The start and finish times of the school day, including any breaks
  • The stages, processes and staff involved in registration
  • A system for lateness including the time the register closes
  • Who the parent should contact on the first day of their child’s absence
  • When the school will contact the parent if the child fails to arrive at school
  • What parents should do if they don’t have access to a phone or are unable to write an explanation for the absence
  • Signing in and signing out systems
  • How and when problems with attendance are communicated to parents
  • What processes are set up to reintegrate pupils returning to school after absence

STRATEGIES USED BY THE SCHOOL IN THE AREA OF ATTENDANCE AND PUNCTUALITY

This may include:

  • How will this policy integrate with other policies which impact upon attendance
  • Rewards, incentives and sanctions
  • First day calling
  • Individual target setting
  • Meeting with pupils and parents/carers
  • Referrals to other support networks
  • Contact details for SBC Children’s services
  • Contact details for the Legal Lead Officer for Attendance.
  • Parent and community initiatives
  • Reintegration programmes

MONITORING, EVALUATION, REFLECTIONS AND DEVELOPMENT

This may include:

  • How the school will monitor the effectiveness of the policy
  • When will monitoring and evaluation take place and who will carry this out?
  • Which pupils, staff, parents, governors and the wider community will be involved?
  • Will you need additional funds to carry this out?
  • How is any evaluation to be fed back into the various stages of the policy?

3.0RESPONSIBILITIES OF PARENTS

3.1Under Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 parents are responsible for ensuring that their child of compulsory school age receives efficient full-time education that is suitable to the child’s age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs the child may have. This can be done by regular school attendance or the parent can choose to educate their child at home (Elective Home Education).

3.2Section 576 of the Education Act 1996 defines ‘parent’ to include:

  • All natural parents, whether they are married or not;
  • Any person who although not a natural parent, has parental ‘responsibility’ for a child or young person;
  • Any person who, although not a natural parent, has care’ of a child or young person

3.3Parents can do a great deal to support the regular and punctual attendance of their children. Parents should:-

a)Take an active interest in their child’s school life and work;

b)Attend parents’ evenings and other school events;

c)Ensure that their child completes his/her homework and goes to bed at an appropriate time;

d)Be aware of letters from school which their child brings home;

e)Ensure that their child arrives at school on time each day;

f)Ensure that their child only misses school for reasons which are unavoidable or justified, such as illness or days of religious observance;

g)Always notify the school as soon as possible - preferably on the first morning - of any absence;

h)Confirm this in writing when the child returns to school;

i)Avoid booking family holidays during term-time;

j)Talk to the school if they are concerned that their child may be reluctant to attend.

4.RESPONSIBILITIES OF SWINDON BOROUGH COUNCIL

4.1SBC has a number of delivery services that are able to provide support

and challenge linked to attendance concerns. The published

‘Integrated guidance’ has full details on how to access this support.

5.0THE ROLE OF EDUCATION WELFARE OFFICERS (EWO) Operating within a Traded Service framework.

Local Authorities are responsible for the statutory service. Since national changes in 2012 it has become possible for schools to buy in EWO services. Details of the local offer are found on the SBC website.

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5.1The fundamental purpose of an EWO is to maximise attendance rates for individual pupils, individual schools and to discharge the Local Authority’s legal duty to ensure that all pupils of compulsory school age are in receipt of suitable education. EWOs will also assist in removing barriers which may prevent a child receiving education.

5.2EWOs employ four main strategies to ensure that registered pupils of compulsory school age attend school regularly and punctually:-

a)As authorised representatives of the Borough Council, monitoring attendance through the regular inspection of registers and liaison with school staff;

b)Undertaking individual casework with parents and pupils

c)Offering strategic advice, support and challenge to enable schools to develop improved systems and practices for managing attendance.

d)Work in partnership with the Legal Lead Officer for Attendance to ensure all legal process are followed.

EWO Casework

5.3EWO casework is undertaken with parents and pupils in order to bring about a pupil’s return to regular attendance. The EWO will recognise and take account of individual circumstances and will respond accordingly. The speedy return of the pupil to regular attendance is the prime concern. The EWO will employ a range of practice and strategies in casework and will when necessary, combine assistance with insistence.

5.4All EWO casework will involve the setting of targets for improvement and will be time-limited and subject to regular review. In some instances EWO intervention may be limited to a single EWO home visit in order to remind parents of their legal responsibilities or to help resolve a particular and identified difficulty. In other instances there may be complex and deep-seated reasons why the pupil is not attending. In such situations the EWO may negotiate a plan of support, which might mean the involvement of colleagues within the Integrated Locality Team, or the involvement of other agencies. If and Early Help record and plan using the common assessment framework hasn’t already been completed the EWO could do this, and ensure an appropriate Lead Professional is allocated to the family through a Team around the Child (TAC)

5.5All EWO casework will involve close and continuous liaison with the pupil’s school. EWOs will ensure that schools receive regular, written feedback on pupils with whom work is being undertaken. In cases where the main causes of the non-attendance may be school-related (e.g. alleged bullying or racism, peer pressure, difficulties with a particular lesson or teacher) the EWO will discuss these with the school in order to develop strategies to overcome these difficulties.

Access to EWO services

5.6Any school requiring support associated with non-attendance can

contact their Locality Early Help Team Manager or their EWO if the

schools has a traded service.

5.7Before contacting external support it is expected that the school will have first undertaken a number of steps to address the pupil’s non-attendance. These would include:-

a)Action by the class teacher/form teacher;

b)Action by the Head of Year (secondary) or Head or Deputy Head (primary);

c)Contact with parents.

d)Completion of an Early Help record and Plan if the child has additional unmet needs

5.8Support and guidance is also offered around school age performance and employment issues.

5.9All contacts to the Local Authorities Children’s Service delivery teams are recorded on the Capita One Database. This database is used in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act.

EWO Visits to Schools

5.10The frequency of visits will be in accordance with an individual school’s traded agreement. Each school that trades is provided with an Education Welfare Service Level Agreement detailing the level of service to be delivered.

Local Authority Statutory Responsibility

5.11If a pupil who is registered at a school fails to attend that school regularly and attempts by the school fail to ensure that the pupil returns to regular attendance the Legal Lead for Attendance, on behalf of the Local Authority, will, unless there are mitigating circumstances, consider taking legal action by issuing a summons against the parents to appear before the magistrates court under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996. In deciding whether or not to take legal action, the Legal Lead must be satisfied that:-

a)There is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction; it must consider what the defence case may be and how this is likely to affect the prosecution case;

b)It is in the Public Interest to prosecute; in cases of any seriousness, a prosecution will usually take place unless there are Public Interest factors pointing against prosecution, which clearly outweigh those in favour;