Agenda item

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 late in arriving at school, not families not taking holidays during term time.  These messages were not aimed at alienating parents and families, their focus was on the fact that the Authority cared for every pupil, their welfare, their aspirations and their futures.  The communications strategy was evaluated and revised on a monthly basis to ensure its targeted approach was relevant to the current trends.

·         the county’s education workforce were extremely creative in devising ways of breaking down barriers in a bid to get pupils engage and interested in learning.

·         the additional funding granted by WG had enabled Education Social Work Team to expand from 4 to 7 members of staff.  Nevertheless, the demand for support still outstripped what the team could currently provide.

·         that a ‘whole school approach to emotional and mental well-being’ had been implemented across the county’s school.  This approach had been outlined in a report to the Committee in September 2023.

·         Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) were issued to the parents or carers of child who was not attending school as they were breaking the law.  Unfortunately, the FPN’s were not effective in all cases but that was the process which was in place as it was the current guidance to adhere to.  FPNs were issued as the very last resort, when all other means of communication, engagement and encouragement with parents or carers had failed.

·         The report published the previous week by Estyn on ‘Improving attendance in secondary schools’ contained a number of recommendations for schools, local education authorities and also for WG.  Denbighshire and its schools already utilised the majority of the approaches listed in the recommendations but would be looking to develop some of them even further in future.

·         the additional LAEG funding received would not be able to be spent on school transport for students.  The terms and conditions attached to this funding stipulated that it was to be utilised solely for education welfare and support purposes.

·         WG was currently reviewing its school transport policy in relation to the qualifying distance from home to pupils nearest most suitable school.  The outcome of this review was still awaited.

·         That the proposed changes to ‘persistent absences’ threshold would place added pressures on school-based staff, education, and education welfare services staff.  WG would be expected to discuss the implementation of these changes and their anticipated impacts on local education authorities and staff with Education portfolio holders and education officers across Wales.  Denbighshire was extremely dependent on WG grant funding to pay for education welfare services.

·         The Authority preferred to be proactive and utilise a prevention rather than an intervention approach towards managing school attendance.  There was a national coding system which every school followed, and this coding system provided data for reasons of absence e.g. ‘M’ (medical appointment), ‘I’ (ill – self certification by parent/carer).  If there was an “N” code (no reason given) the school would be questioned as there should be a reason for every absence.  Schools were monitored on a daily, weekly/monthly/termly basis via the national School Information Management System (SIMS).  

 

Members enquired whether it would be possible to produce an infographic that could simply illustrate the extent and implications of pupil non-attendance at the county’s schools which they could then easily share with residents to highlight any problems and seek residents support to encourage pupils to engage with their education.  In response to a question from a Committee member on what elected members, in their role as Corporate Parents, could do to support officers and encourage pupils to attend school and engage with their education, the Lead Member and officers advised that they would be grateful if members could reinforce and share the messages sent out by the Education Service and the Council’s Communications Team, emphasising the importance of school attendance with families in their areas and via school governing bodies on which they served.  When sharing these messages members were asked to stress that the Council was encouraging school attendance and engagement not because they were not blaming families for not ensuring their children attended school, but because they cared for the pupils and their families,

 

At this juncture, the Chair thanked the Lead Member and all the officers for attending and also for all their work.

 

At the conclusion of a comprehensive discussion the Committee:

 

Resolved:  subject to the above observations to –

 

(i)   receive the report along with the information imparted during the course of the meeting and acknowledge the efforts made to date to promote school attendance and pupils’ engagement in education; and

(ii) request that a further report be presented to members in September 2024 detailing the progress made in improving school attendance rates and educational engagement across the county’s schools during the 2023/24 academic year in line with Welsh Government Guidance.