Today, School-Home Support is proposing a plan for the new Government on how to tackle the attendance crisis in schools.
The education charity is calling on the Government to bring stakeholders together behind an ambitious ‘moonshot’ goal to see every child in school and ready to learn by 2050. This can be only achieved through a support-led approach, with ‘radical collaboration’ between local services, and a focus on understanding and removing barriers to attendance and early intervention. The route map, ‘Every child in school and ready to learn: a support-led route map to tackle the attendance crisis’ covers what the Government should achieve in the first 100 days, first year, and first five years to move the country towards an inclusive education system which provides opportunities for all children.
The report recognises current fiscal constraints, but urges leaders to invest now to save later on the long term costs of high absence. Families need to be supported and engaged, with the complex barriers to attendance understood and addressed, and parents engaged with their child’s learning. Schools need to be supportive and supported, encouraged and rewarded for best practice with families, backed by local services which are collaborative and preventative.
High absence is often a symptom of deeper, underlying problems
Children can be absent from school due to a range of complex and overlapping reasons that their families may be facing, including poverty, insecure housing, mental health challenges, and undiagnosed or unsupported SEND. Difficulties at home can often translate into poor attendance.
School-Home Support practitioners report issues related to work, housing, money and wellbeing are the largest for adults, and for young people issues relating to wellbeing and ‘where I live’ are the largest and continue to grow.
A route map to fix the attendance crisis
Over the next 100 days, first year, and first five years, the family support experts set out key milestones for the Government to achieve to begin the journey toward an inclusive education system where every child is happy to be in school and ready to learn by 2050.
The goal will be achieved by investing in a support-led, family-centric approach. This means building resilience in families through whole family support, tackling poverty, and reengaging parents with schools. School and local authority staff should be regularly trained in family centric approaches to attendance, and Ofsted should inspect attendance under new annual safeguarding checks. Communities should integrate improving attendance into local authority service plans, evaluate multi-agency meetings for attendance, deliver early help effectively, and roll out Family Hubs.
Ethan’s story
Ethan’s attendance had fallen to 67% when he and his family were referred to School-Home Support, meaning he had missed over 63 school days. Ethan’s mum, Liberty, had recently separated from Ethan’s dad, and was facing eviction.
School-Home Support practitioner Grace supported Liberty by contacting the housing worker to prevent the eviction, and helped Liberty liaise with Step Change to create a debt plan. Grace also worked with Liberty to apply for PIP and DLA to support the family, and organised food parcels from the local food bank. With the School-Home Support Welfare Fund, Grace purchased a new oven and reduced price paint, and through the Children in Need Family Fund she bought wardrobes and drawers for Ethan’s room.
Ethan’s parents are now co-parenting well and have organised a routine that best suits Ethan, who is waiting for an autism assessment. His parents have built a positive relationship with the school and have attended parents’ evenings and school plays.
Ethan’s attendance has increased to 89%, and his teachers and parents have noticed a positive change in Ethan. He has joined the students’ council, has developed more friendships, and is more playful in school.
Grace reflected that the improvement in Ethan’s home life has “reflected in his overall wellbeing and attitude in school; he is now a very bubbly, happy and chatty child.”
Jaine Stannard, Chief Executive of School-Home Support, said:
“The attendance crisis is the most pressing issue facing our education system today. We need a plan that understands the underlying causes of low attendance, and provides evidence-based solutions that we know work.
“We welcome the Government’s commitments to breakfast clubs and mental health support in secondary schools, but like many current approaches these rely on children being in school to benefit and may not address the underlying issues. We must go further and faster to reconnect with families to turn the school attendance crisis around.
“There are too many children missing out on their education. Families need more money in their pockets but they also need support with attendance and engagement so their children don’t miss out. Setting long term goals for attendance will drive the investment, and reform we need to see in our education system – starting with reducing absence to pre pandemic levels.”
