Agenda item

Agenda item

School Attendance Headline Outcomes (provisional) & Strategic Overview

Report of the Directorof Education

 

This report provides a summary of the 2023-24 provisional school attendance data and the proposed changes to school attendance legislation as outlined in the revised Department for Education (DfE) guidance Working together to improve school attendance’ statutory guidance for maintained schools, academies, independent schools, and local authorities.  The report reviews activity that has taken place over the course of the current academic year and an outline of the strategic approach for 2024/2025.

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Education which provided a summary of the 2023-24 provisional school attendance data and the proposed changes to school attendance legislation as outlined in the revised Department for Education (DfE) guidance ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ statutory guidance for maintained schools, academies, independent schools, and local authorities.  The report reviewed activity that had taken place over the course of the current academic year and provided an outline of the strategic approach for 2024/2025.

 

Key points and themes in the report included:

 

  • The national context;
  • Attendance data overview in 2023/2024;
  • Analysis of ward-level attendance data and targeted intervention;
  • Statutory attendance processes and analysis;
  • Targeting Support Meetings; and
  • Strategic approach to school attendance in 2024-25.

 

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

 

  • To request a breakdown of fixed penalty notices by ward for 2023/24 and a comparison with how many were issued in the previous year;
  • To welcome the focus on children transitioning from primary to secondary school;
  • The impact of the introduction of ‘support first’ expectations on the issuing of fixed penalty notices;
  • Support for families and addressing barriers to attendance;
  • Whether the figures included children who were not registered at a school; and
  • The benefits of making pupils and families aware of the costs and the impact on the child’s education of missing school.

 

The Assistant Director for Education informed the Committee that officers would include a ward breakdown of fixed penalty notices and a comparison to the previous year in the next report on attendance, when they would have the final data.  

 

The Statutory Lead for Attendance clarified that the data only related to children who were registered at a school.  He reported that in 2022/2023 approximately 75% of fixed penalty notices were due to holidays and 25% due to sporadic absence.  He reported that, for 2023/24, while the overall number of fixed penalty notices was on-track to be similar to the previous year, the breakdown was approximately 87% and 13%, which was partly due to the number of holidays but also because his team had been providing challenge to schools who were issuing fixed penalty notices for sporadic absence to ensure that they were offering support to families first, such as Early Help, a parenting contract and breaking down in-school and outside of school barriers to attendance.  The Senior Schools Quality Assurance Officer outlined the multi-disciplinary approach to supporting families and the increased universal offer the Council was providing to schools.

 

In response to a Member’s request for a breakdown of attendance data by year group, the Statutory Lead for Attendance reported that this would be produced at the end of the school year and shared with Members.

 

The Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People outlined the issues raised by children at a recent event, including the difference in holiday prices between term-time and school holidays and about contact with a home country.  She highlighted the ongoing impact of the pandemic on school attendance.  She advised that the ward breakdown of attendance was affected by whether there were high schools or only primary schools within the ward.  In response to a Member’s question, she reported that she had invited all Councillors to today’s meeting, which would have drawn their attention to the report, and that she would be holding meetings in relation to some wards to identify the specific attendance issues in those wards.

 

The Ward Councillor for Woodhouse Park asked about the data on children who were not registered at a school.  She commented on the pressure that schools were under and asked whether there was any additional funding being made available to support the work on school attendance. 

 

The Director of Education informed the Committee that schools had to notify the Council if they removed a child from their roll and that they could only do this for specified reasons.  She outlined the groups of children who were not included in the attendance data.  These included children who were on the Child Missing Education (CME) list, children who were being electively home educated and children who had been offered a school place which their parents had not accepted.  She explained that the latter group was dealt with by the School Attendance Team and that there was a process which could result in a School Attendance Order being issued.  She explained how school funding was calculated, based on pupil numbers, pupils who were eligible for the Pupil Premium and pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), and advised that schools had discretion on how to allocate their budget and there was no funding specifically allocated to improve attendance.  She informed the Committee that the revised national guidance on school attendance placed additional burdens on local authorities and there was no additional funding being given to councils for this.  She encouraged Members to promote school attendance through their role as Ward Councillors and through other roles such as School Governors.

 

Decision

 

To request a further report, to include how successful the back-to-school bus has been, feedback from the Biannual Attendance Conference and next steps.

Supporting documents: