Attendance

Improving attendance

scameron — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 10:34:36 +0000

Earlier this year Ofsted paid us a visit. Out of a possible 30-plus graded areas, we were delighted that we were only given three ‘satisfactory' scores. One of those was for attendance... and that's not our fault, is it?

How to tackle truancy using ICT

scameron — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:40:25 +0100

It’s a familiar picture in any high street on a weekday: a group of kids who should clearly be at school hanging out in the shopping malls or pursuing other interests, such as skateboarding. Despite the efforts of ministers, schools and the police, truancy remains a major issue. It not only affects academic achievement but it feeds into some of the biggest concerns of central government: gangs, anti-social behaviour, drugs and juvenile crime.

Improving attendance in your school

scameron — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:45:12 +0100

In preparation for discussing our levels of absence and exclusion. In this article, I will explain what this revealed about the school and outline the measures we undertook to address the key issues.

Extensive data gathering and analysis

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Requirements to teach excluded pupils

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:30 +0100
From September 2007, maintained schools in England became responsible for providing full-time education for excluded pupils from the sixth day of their exclusion.

This change in the law stems from the recommendations of Sir Alan Steer’s report on school behaviour and discipline which found that a fixed period exclusion is often an ineffective sanction as some pupils may view it as an extra holiday. At present local authorities are only required to provide education for excluded pupils from the 16th day of their exclusion.

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Flexible working at school and at home

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:22 +0100

What a week! My three-year-old, normally so full of bounce, whined his way through Sunday, has spent the rest of the week with a temperature, a cough and very little desire to eat. On Tuesday, his dad came down with it too. So began the nightmare that is being a working mother and a teacher.

Missed lessons
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When can a bullied child stay off school?

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:16 +0100

QUESTION
Sometimes a child suffers so badly from bullying that parents keep her at home. But is this legally justified?
ANSWER
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Spreading SEBS in Gloucestershire

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:07 +0100

‘This is too important to be confined to a pilot and small scale; SEBS is whole school and for everyone. It has to underpin all that we do!’ This is how one deputy head described his experience of engaging with the secondary pilot programme to develop Social, Emotional and Behavioural Skills (SEBS).
The journey of six local authorities and over 50 schools that embarked on the pilot has proved that:
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Using NPSLBA to transform behaviour and raise attendance

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:06 +0100

South Gloucestershire local authority (LA) was interested in piloting the National Programme for Specialist Leaders of Behaviour and Attendance (NPSLBA) as it could see its potential to develop staff knowledge and skills and therefore bring about improvements in behaviour and attendance. It decided to set up two pilot groups - one contained a mixture of staff from various local schools and support services and the other comprised staff who all came from one secondary school.
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School transport: basic law and best practice

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:05 +0100

The main school transport duties pertain to local authorities (LAs). But schools must be aware of the duties because they have to give LAs information, advise parents of their rights and responsibilities, and draw up a school transport policy and travel plan.

In this article, there is a summary of the law on school transport, with guidance on how to interpret it. Then we look at government initiatives for improving home-school travel arrangements.

THE LOCAL AUTHORITY DUTY
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Truancy: when should the LA prosecute?

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:05 +0100

A: YES. In Graves v London Borough of Islington [2004] ELR 1, the non-attendance of a child at school led to the local authority seeking and obtaining an education supervision order under the Children Act 1989.
Although the object of an education supervision order is to help, not punish, an inadequate parent, persistent failure to comply with such an order is an offence.
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Every lesson counts

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:46 +0100

It is estimated that one in six truants on any given day is absent with their parents on a family holiday. As part of the government’s drive to curb unauthorised term-time absences, the DfES and the Association of British Travel Agents are currently promoting the Every Lesson Counts scheme, which offers discounts, free child places and early booking deals for families.
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Improving attendance

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:42 +0100

With ever increasing pressure to achieve more with less, it is tempting to think truancy can be solved by imposing tougher discipline or similar hard-hitting strategies. However, where a problem is actually a symptom of systemic malaise, such over-simple solutions are most likely doomed, because they do not address the total situation, and instead reinforce an underlying degenerative cycle.
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Better behaviour: lead professionals point way to whole-school improvement

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:33 +0100

CASE IN POINT
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The stick and the carrot: no answer to attendance problems

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:14 +0100

Whenever attendance and absences figures show a blip, it seems that most people have ideas about who is to blame and what should be done about it. The government has tried to get the problem in its sights but maybe the bolt is aerodynamically bent – the target seems to shimmer and prove impossible to hit.

Headteachers and their staffs have to monitor their attendance figures, develop a policy on the issue and follow it up if problems occur. In many schools it is difficult to tackle a general malaise or individual cases.
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