Issue - meetings

To consider a report by the Education Social Work Team Leader (copy attached) which provides members with the current position with regards to school attendance and engagement in education.  The report also seeks the Committee’s views on the approach taken by the local education authority to maximise pupil engagement in education.

10.10 am – 11.00 am

The Lead Member for Education, Children and Young People, Councillor Gill German, introduced the Promote School Attendance and Engagement in Education report (previously circulated).  She explained that school attendance rates had not quite reached pre-pandemic levels, therefore more work was required in order to improve engagement and attendance levels.

Information and explanations were provided regarding the measures in place to support vulnerable pupils to re-engage in education and deepen an understanding of the regional and national context in addressing the current level of concern nationally. 

Attendance rates over the last three years across Wales had dropped with an overall average across authorities achieving 88.9% Primary/Secondary combined.  Appendix 3 to the report provided a more detailed breakdown of the current trend, these figures indicated that Denbighshire’s average attendance figures stood at 90.1% during the autumn 2023 term compared to the national average of 91.3%

The Welsh Government’s (WG) Minister for Education and Welsh Language had recently announced plans to bring Wales in line with England where persistent absence was defined as 10% of half day sessions missed (30 sessions) rather than the current 20% absence rate of persistent absence which equated to 60 half day sessions a year.

Denbighshire had received additional Welsh Government funding through the Local Authority Education Grant (LAEG) to address and support education and schools.

Work had been taking place with schools in the key aspect of where families were in difficulty with poor housing, living in poverty and struggling with the cost of living crisis, as this would impact on the children.  Engagement with schools and families would be imperative to improve attendance.  Officers would visit families in an attempt to establish the reasons why pupils were not attending schools and engaging with their education, support was offered with a view to encouraging re-engagement and improving attendance levels.

Responding to members’ questions the Lead Member for Education, Children and Families and officers advised that:

·         Interventions were critical, but the main difficulties were down to staff levels not increasing to cope with an increase in demand and pressures.  Additional Welsh Government (WG) funding had been received but it had been a challenge to appoint to posts.  

·         Interventions also varied from school to school as some schools had strong attendance, returning or even exceeding pre-pandemic levels whilst others required additional support and resources to realise improvement.  

·         Work was taking place with families of children with additional learning needs (ALN), those in receipt of free school meals (FSMs), refugees, gypsy, roma and traveller (GRT) families, looked after children (LAC) etc  as these were pupils with certain vulnerabilities.

·         From the point of view of the FSM cohort, these children and families often had housing needs and it was important children attended school to be in a safe environment and to be provided with at least one hot meal every day.

·         There were a lot of children with wellbeing and mental health needs, but this was not an excuse for a child not to attend school.  Some children were also carers for family members, therefore it was important that their needs were met to permit them to attend school to improve their future outcomes.  Attending school would benefit every child.  A One Council approach was in place with a view to encouraging pupil attendance, engagement and well-being, this approach also extended to external organisations i.e. health practitioners involved with children and their families/carers.

·         a communication strategy had been produced following an Estyn report and discussions at Head Teachers conferences.  This strategy ‘drip-fed’ messages via social media channels etc. on the importance of pupils attending schools on a regular basis, not being  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5