School's out for too many children

HEADS TELL OF FIGHT AGAINST POOR ATTENDANCE AFTER COVID

- EMMA GILL

POOR attendance is one of the biggest issues facing schools right now.

In response to growing absenteeism, the Government announced last month that it’s increasing fines for parents who keep their kids off without permission.

But fines have failed to help turn the tide so far and those working with families say it’s unlikely to make any difference to unauthorised absence rates that are spiralling out of control.

Headteachers tell us they’re facing an uphill battle to get kids in class.

The fallout of the pandemic has seen parents allowing children to “stay off at the slightest sign of not being 100 per cent’’.

At Fred Longworth High School in Tyldesley, Wigan, headteacher Paul Davies says the secondary is in the top 25 per cent of similar schools nationally for attendance.

However, attendance “is not as it was pre-pandemic”.

“Since returning from the pandemic, we have seen a significant rise in persistent absenteeism and outright school refusal from a significant minority of our students,” he said.

“It is very worrying. There are some students that teaching staff do not see enough of to teach effectively or with any consistency.

“The traditional, unspoken social contract between home and school has been broken and it is a huge concern.”

Attendance rates in primaries have also fallen dramatically, which is one of the reasons Kings Road Primary School in Stretford, Trafford, has been graded as ‘Good’ rather than ‘Outstanding’, says head Darren Morgan.

Attendance there is 93.7pc, with 22pc being defined as persistently absent, or off for 10pc of the time.