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

DiddyNan

I applaud any authority following this procedure

Really? Even in this "case"?

I am beginning to see why there is so much money and time wasting going on.

So many people think it is all necessary.

My daughter had 34 stints in hospital (extreme Asthma) ….i would inform the school immediately that she was admitted again …they would give it 2 days for her to be ‘stabilised ‘ then a teacher or office staff member would bring her schoolwork into the hospital and give to her , or the children’s ward schoolteacher . Between the school and teacher at hospital my daughter did very well with 5 A levels eventually.
Point being….they knew she was a genuine case of illness. This is not the case today with parents seeming to allow kids( older mostly) to roam streets! I know this because my now middle aged daughter , works as a schools counsellor for 13+ kids….kids that are persistent truants …some with a ‘nod and wink’ from parents. She says that by then , this behaviour is ingrained and usually hopeless to cure….but if this behaviour can be stemmed in primary schools , all the better……schools have been too lax , for too long in neglecting truancy. It might seem harsh , but something needs to be done.

Back to the "good old days" when attendance officers did visit unannounced to ensure child was actually at home. Seems very traumatic when there is a longstanding health issue and the school must be aware.

Surely the seemingly lighter touch of a friendly phonecall shouldn't even be necessary if the child has a medical condition and the parent has followed all rules regarding this and his sickness absence.
I would have told the 2 callers this and pointed out to them that demanding a fit note from the doctor doesn't mean that one will be supplied!

I worked as an attendance officer at a high school. The pressure applied on me to ring every absent student, every day, was phenomenal and virtually impossible to do. I had to mark in every late attender and query the reasons, deal with phone calls and log messages (generally 150 plus waiting messages each morning) on a system that crashed regularly and was incredibly slow, deal with face to face parent queries, AND have called the missing students - all by 10am!

It was impossible to maintain - this was an enormous academy school and at the time where we were just coming out of lockdowns. Covid was rampant. My office was also in the same room as the sick bay where unwell/vomiting students waited to be collected. The school nurse was always off sick, so by default, that job (calling parents to collect and comforting sick students) fell on me, too, all while I was inhaling all the germs.

There were 2 others above me whose job it was to turn up at people's houses to see if parents were telling the truth - they'd pick 1 or 2 to visit a day and then have a meeting about it. They never understood how pressurised my role was and scathing comments were the norm.

I hated it, burned out swiftly and left.

I worked at a school where attendance was recorded on the pupil management system every week, and the local authority were known to send attendance officers to visit homes where they considered the attendance percentage was not high enough. The Government set the percentage requirements, not schools. Good attendance was something like 97 - 100%, but anything below that rapidly became 'poor'.

As a retired teacher, I fully approve of Attendence officers or whatever they call themselves these days checking up.

In most countries, a doctor's note is required if children are off school for more than a length of time that varies from three days to a week.

In this case, it does sound, however, as if there has been a failure of communication between school and attendence officers, as the parents of the sick child had been in regular communication with the school.

That said, I would much rather that schools enquire unnecessarily than that they do nothing and later discover that a child has been playing truant, as a 14 year old girl I taught regularly did on Wednesdays until I phoned her father. He was shocked to hear that his dear daughter had not been at school and swiftly put paid to her window-shopping Wednesdays.

Worse was the case of the Pakistani girl who never returned to school, or even to this country, after a summer holiday. We never found out what had happened to her.

A 17 year old boy and his entire family likewise disappeared without trace, owing the school a term's fees, and we never found out where they had gone either.

There are so many tragic cases of abused, murdered children or youngsters forced into marriages they do not themselves desire (although this last is rare compared to the abused children) as well as those playing truant, some of whom get into criminal company, that I say: better safe than sorry!

It's a terrible pity that nobody cared when my grandson missed a lot of school when he was in the juniors.

VioletSky

Children have a right to an education.

Unfortunately there are parents who don't send their children to school enough for various reasons, some not good at all

In reality, this is just checking that children are at home for good reason and are safe

I think it would be hard to exempt some families, even those with long term illness problems, to protect children

And teachers have a right to teach.
{m with you VioletSky.
It may be viable in a primary school where the school has a good idea which child is truly unwell and which family is neglecting their child's education.. with less children and most of the teaching being done tby the same person, but FAR more complicated in a large secondary school where nearly every subject is taught by a different teacher.

And Teachers are not social workers although they often end up taking on many of the responsibilities. And they are very often blamed when an absent child comes to harm.

If the visiting officials were a bit too official, I suspect that they never quite know what kind of reception they will get and perhaps and are therefore wary .

better safe than sorry!

I agree grandtante

And Teachers are not social workers although they often end up taking on many of the responsibilities. And they are very often blamed when an absent child comes to harm.

If the visiting officials were a bit too official, I suspect that they never quite know what kind of reception they will get and perhaps and are therefore wary

I agree with this too, rowyn.

Iam64

Growstuff I’m sure you’re correct about untrained inexperienced attendance officers. Education welfare officers used to be seconded to study for a CQSW, so many were well trained and qualified. The austerity project has so much to answer for

In the "olden days", EWOs knew families well. I was a Head of Year at one time and the EWOs would come into school and discuss outcomes of visits with me. They were very sympathetic to the situation in some families and we would devise some kind of strategy to encourage pupils to come into school. Sometimes, a parent was ill and needed a child at home, so the EWO would contact medical/social services. Sometimes the child was being bullied, but wouldn't tell the school about it. Sometimes there were patterns and a child was absent on certain days because he/she didn't like the subject or teacher. You're right Iam64, they played a social worker role.

All this was before the days of fining parents for condoning truancy and banning permission for many known absences. And budget cuts! It was about carrots, not sticks.

Attendance Officers are not Education Welfare Officers.

My gut answer to the question would be they're seen as 'soft targets '. It's a box ticking exercise and the school have picked out families with good records otherwise who can be quietly bullied into helping the school improve their figures.
The wellbeing of the child won't enter into it, so long as their attendance figures improve 😞

Dear M0nica, What a dreadful experience it was for your DiL. I have witnessed the same in Perth Australia. I was staying in a caravan in the yard. My GD had been ill with an on off fatigue syndrome for several years. DiL was in close cooperation with the school. She told me that the attendance officers had been round and talked to her daughter and on that occasion they took her mobile phone away and told her she would have it returned when she returned to school. She was without it for several weeks!!

This fatigue syndrome was on an off and distance learning had been tried but grand daughter wanted to attend school when she could and not be isolated.

Any way these two officer turned up. They looked like police women ready for action. With their demeanor, I recognized their mission immediately, I stepped out out onto the caravan step to observe with mobile in hand. My Dil came out of the house and stood in front of the porch, Grand daughter was in bed with an appointment for the doctor the next day if she could manage to get to it. The conversation unfolded with respect to grand daughters illness and the doctors appointment. The two officer left. An unnecessary and threatening visit.

When I was a housewife in Manchester in the late 1960's I would be cooking at home for the evening meal for family and student lodgers, A young lad occasionally turned up. He was clearly a school truant and from a very poor household fascinated by my twin tub, how I prepared the food etc. He said he only liked the chess club at school! I cannot remember now quite how it went but I did explain that when the school attendance officer came for him he would need to return to school with him, best not to run away. One day a man on a bike arrived. He was the school attendance officer. The lad went with him. I do hope the dear child did well.

So sorry M0nica that the system has become so unnecessarily aggressive. Do hope the school can prevent any further visits.

Callistemon21

Attendance Officers are not Education Welfare Officers.

Exactly

biglouis

There have been a few threads on this subject on Mumsnet where the child with a previously good attendance record had good to be absent (covid/funeral. etc)

B****y schools are getting to be like concentration camps.

I would probably have told them to go "forth and multiply" in no uncertain terms.

Schools are the only place where the customer or service user has to wear a uniform rather than the staff. I think it gives teachers the wrong message about the value of the students as individuals.

fancythat

DiddyNan

I applaud any authority following this procedure

Really? Even in this "case"?

Yes

Calllistomon, those warning bells would not sound if these people did their job properly.
Let the warning bells sound, it would be a waste of time for everyone as nothing was amiss, as someone said upthread they may see some people as easy targets so they could tick a box. I would have no intention of being a easy target.
While they waste their time with me and other good parents they miss the poor kids who need the help.

Callistemon21

Attendance Officers are not Education Welfare Officers.

EWOs used to be the people who would check on attendance. Is Attendance Officer a new role?

Iam64

Callistemon21

Attendance Officers are not Education Welfare Officers.

Exactly

But EWOs were the people who would follow up on poor attendance. I know because I used to report concerning attendance to the EWO who came to visit the school regularly.

rafichagran

Calllistomon, those warning bells would not sound if these people did their job properly.
Let the warning bells sound, it would be a waste of time for everyone as nothing was amiss, as someone said upthread they may see some people as easy targets so they could tick a box. I would have no intention of being a easy target.
While they waste their time with me and other good parents they miss the poor kids who need the help.

Who are you claiming isn't doing their job properly?

I have always thought (maybe wrongly) that children had to attend school by law. Unless of course there was a good reason (illness, death in family etc). I personally think there should be more Attendance Officers although in this example there seems to have been some misunderstanding or lack of communication on someone's part. I agree with the statement "better safe than sorry". I also believe there is a lot of responsibility put on teachers to teach things that are the moral DUTY of parents to do eg teeth brushing...what is that all about. But don't get me started!

Non-attendance at school can be a trigger warning sign that there may be all kinds of safeguarding issues.

In many cases, like this one, the reason will be genuine illness.

However, some parents may keep children off school because they are being abused or neglected but other parents may be unaware their children are not attending because they have been caught up in County lines, being exploited by gangs, or truanting because they are being bullied at school and no-one is aware.
Some children may be having time off because they are young carers for parents.

Calling unexpectedly means the situation can be assessed more clearly.

In this case the reason was clear but in some cases further action and referrals to Social Services or even the Police might be needed.

growstuff

Iam64

Callistemon21

Attendance Officers are not Education Welfare Officers.

Exactly

But EWOs were the people who would follow up on poor attendance. I know because I used to report concerning attendance to the EWO who came to visit the school regularly.

Yes, but it has changed.