Government cracking down on school non-attenders. What happens in practice.

I dont know if it's to do with things being lax it's to do with the statistics on attendance which have become of increasing concern since the pandemic. I suspect there will be furth

I suspect there will be further changes in legislation soon particularly around home education.

There are many home schooled kids here in Australia. Compared with the UK I think we are fairly soft on non attendance at school. It is supposedly a legal requirement that kids attend but we don’t have people knocking on your door like something from Soviet Russia if they don’t. Thank goodness. Most of it is done through phone calls or meetings with the school principals. It seems to be more of a problem in the bush.

I just felt that given an older child had gone through the school without a single days absence and that, in this case, school and parent had been in regular communication for some time because the child had been taken ill at school a number of times and had other problems in school arising from his illness. The school knew he was ill.

He is also an active part of the school setting up and running a war gaming (or Dungeons and Dragons) club with over 30 members.

I felt the callers had a tick list of, say 4 visits a day, and they put DDiL and DGS on the list because they knew there wasn't a problem so knew it would be an easy peasy visit and a quick tick in a box, and they could go home early.

Maybe a tick box exercise as you say, but if a parent was calling a child in sick when the child had been abused or neglected and no visit was made they’d get rightly criticised. It can’t be “we know this child is from a good family so we won’t bother” isn’t really part of their brief. Presumably they were satisfied all was above board after their visit.

VioletSky

I don't think she should be upset, stuff like this is horrible, truly but she has done nothing wrong, children have also been very poorly this year. I've never seen so much illness

I am so glad this thread has been started.

I think "I've never seen so much illness" is in part, due to the governtment[is it new] policy, of come into school with sickness, unless a fever[whatever the rules are].

The government are in effect saying, "come in, spread your germs around". To other pupils and staff.

Galaxy

I dont know if it's to do with things being lax it's to do with the statistics on attendance which have become of increasing concern since the pandemic. I suspect there will be furth

Yes, statistics on education seem to be the root.

As to your post about Home Ed. I wouldnt be so sure.
I read a long time ago, the reason that Home Ed is not well sorted, is because if it was, the government would be open to being sued for giving pupils a bad education.

You can imagine just how many people would sue!!

M0nica that sounds very heavy handed. I think that you are due an apology. I have no idea of where Welfare Officers are from. My school employed no such and the Attendance Service was pretty much disbanded years ago.
I do, however, have concerns about home schooled children. I am sure most are HS for good reasons and their families are doing their best to educate them appropriately.
However, HS is a get- out- jail- free card for any potential abuser, religious fanatic, or utterly idle parent/ carer. In school, children are seen by others and are tested frequently ( SATs et al) . Why not rule that HS children are seen at certain times and their progress assessed? This would not trouble conscientious parents or carers, and would fire a warning shot across the bows if the other groups. Of course, it would cost money so maybe I'm dreaming here.
.

The govt has realised that statistics on school absence have been increasingly concerning since lockdown. Many parents don’t seem to see the regular attendance as essential. It’s not like something out of soviet Russia nanna8 for the state to try and improve this.

I imagine visits are in twos for health n safety reasons. I’m surprised though, that the head teacher hadn’t raised this with’ parents before escalating.

Since covid when schools were locked down for so long many more children are staying home for all sorts of reasons.
It’s obviously upsetting for the parent if they have kept in touch every day but the school staff are busy snd given so many children can be absent do not have time to call every parent.
I was an education welfare officer for a couple of years s long time ago snd it’s sometimes difficult, though only 4 visits a day woukd have made it much easier.
I visited homes alone and much later as a SW in child protection I was still visiting families alone , was seriously assaulted and had to take early retirement, so am pleased they now work in twos.

Cross post Iam.

Two officials? Is that cost-effective use of public money?

This is another area which became lax and now is starting to be tightened up. Children are the future and it's important that they are properly educated.

Ah. But in the instances I have seen of Home Ed over the years, that doesnt often happen.
And parents who send their children to school, know this.

Grantanow if police have always gone in pairs then it’s about time people expected to visit homes should too. Did you read my post.? Not cost effective for the public purse? Harsh.
It took years for me to recover from my assault.

I am part of a service that does home visits, (not to do with this issue), on the first visit we would never go alone Grantanow.

Cross post Silverlining. That must have been terrifying.

It was! I could have died. Thanks Galaxy.

CoolCoco

Maybe a tick box exercise as you say, but if a parent was calling a child in sick when the child had been abused or neglected and no visit was made they’d get rightly criticised. It can’t be “we know this child is from a good family so we won’t bother” isn’t really part of their brief. Presumably they were satisfied all was above board after their visit.

exactly this

It might in a way be a bit of a compliment M0nica if what my mother called a "back handed" one. Schools are very aware of which children they need in school and which can be overlooked a little. Your GS is a high achiever, he comes from a supportive family, a small intervention is likely to yield a good result. So one visit, matter sorted, box ticked. There are hundreds if not thousands of children out of school that pose an intractable problem. Not only is it difficult to get them back into school but once they are in they are constantly disruptive and often temporarily excluded. At top primary and at secondary level schools function better without those children. Making home visits is difficult and sometimes dangerous, parents are dysfunctional and sometimes violent, and exercise little control over their children. Your GS was an easy option.

I would have thought that your family would be grateful that the school cared enough to check on the reasons for your grandson's absence.

Jaxjacky

Applying the procedure with no common sense.

Yes this.

eazybee

I would have thought that your family would be grateful that the school cared enough to check on the reasons for your grandson's absence.

eazibee they KNEW why he was absent, they had recent letters from a hospital consultant telling them what was wrong with him, and his family and school had been working together for several terms to deal with his until recently undiagnosed medical condition.

His illness had been manifest at school and discussions had been going on about how adjustments could be made to accomodate this. he loves school and is involved in lots of school activities,

His parents had also meticulously followed the sickness reporting protocols laid down by the school.

coolcoco the family had been in ongoing dialogue with the school for several terms about DGS and his healh problems, , so if there were any issues beyond illness these would have already been picked up.

If they still couldn't work it out they could have phoned the parents or asked them to come into school to see them. His sister had had an exemplore attendance record at the school and so had DGS until his medical condition developed.

Gloryanny thank you for your kind remarks, but since DGS absences are caused by illness. any intervention by the school is ulikely to have any effect of his attendance. When he is well, which is most of the time, he is at school. When he is ill, he isn't and no intervention by the school can change that.

These visitors would be much better concentrating on those families on the cusp where a little support and follow-up might easily get some children back in schools, so that they can then concentrate on the more difficult cases

DGS comes from a supportive family, all working in the education sector. He is going to do well no matter what happens. Staff should be concentrating on the marginal families where a little intervention now could possibly be positively life changing, if a child returns to school.

It sounds as if someone looked at the attendance records, didn't check with the Head Teacher or Head of Year and decided a visit was necessary.

There needs to be better communications.

I hope he's feeling better now. Half-term is coming up soon, a chance to do something different. R and R.

Personally, I would consider contacting the School Governors.
This is partly the reason for them.
There is a breakdown somewhere. Whether it is between Head and parents, Head and the Attendance Officers, or whatever they are called, or the school sickness policy, I dont know.

But whatever way, I think the School Governors should be made aware.
At the very least, their School Sickness Policy needs to be looked at[as far as I know they get reviewed every 5 years anyway].

I understand it is a shock but safeguarding means things need to be followed up. I had a social worker turn up at my home when my dd was in school because some suspicious bruising had been found. Of course I could explain where it was from and I was absolutely furious at the time but she has a severe disability and struggled at the time to communicate, of course the school did absolutely the right thing.

I've also had the school email me recently about my youngests attendance. I don;t even think it is that low but head of year said in follow letter - send him to school even if he is ill!