Camden continues to have a higher rate of pupils regularly missing lessons than most London boroughs – but one primary school head shares how his school is trying to turn the tide
A North London headteacher has revealed how his school is battling against persistent absence in a borough where an exceptional number of children regularly miss their lessons. Camden’s Netley Primary School has been singled out by its local council for tackling children’s poor attendance through giving parents awareness courses instead of immediately slapping them with a fine.
Inspired by speed awareness courses offered to drivers as an educational alternative to speeding fines, Netley’s “empathetic” approach asks parents who are at risk of receiving a fixed penalty notice to attend four sessions to highlight the risk of persistent absence. “The feedback from parents has been incredibly positive, especially around highlighting the anxiety their children feel from missing school,” said head of school Gareth Morris.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) the courses had “dramatically” improved attendance for 8 out of 10 families who had taken part so far. Morris added that if attendance remains low parents will receive a fine, but when the school does see improvement they “just continue to offer enhanced support and monitor”.
He also praised the “essential” work of the Netley’s full-time support worker, Simone Sarosh-Cambridge, whose job it is to monitor attendance and offer a support package to any child flagged on her list for repeated absence, but also to work directly with children to build their confidence.
Simone’s role is mostly funded by the Richard Reeves Foundation. According to the council a number of the borough’s schools also provide similar support roles through charitable means or existing budgets – but it’s not an expense many can afford.
Camden Council highlighted Netley’s leadership in a report published on Monday (10 November) that outlined the borough’s vulnerability on school attendance. Camden’s rate of persistent absence is higher than both the inner London and national average, with more than 1 in 5 pupils missing more than 1 in 10 of their lessons.
In February this year a council report ranked the borough 29th out of 32 boroughs for primary absences, and 30th for secondary schools.
Stephen Hall, CEO of the borough’s education partnership Camden Learning, on Monday told the council’s Children, Schools and Families Scrutiny Committee the borough was making progress from the previous year and had narrowed the attendance gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils.
But there was still a “disproportionate” number of disadvantaged kids, particularly pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), missing their lessons much too often.
Fines of £120 ‘don’t deter’ unauthorised holidays
Turning to what was driving the problem, Mr Hall said Camden had the highest sickness absence rate of all inner London boroughs, but he also raised the issue of families taking unauthorised holidays during term-time.
Speaking to the LDRS, Netley’s head of school agreed that a “shift in culture” and the cost of airfares since the Covid-19 pandemic had led to families repeatedly asking to take vacations during school terms.
“If we take out holidays during term time, then our persistent absence has reduced significantly,” he said. “However, a fixed penalty notice is not enough to deter these holidays as the fine of £120 is significantly cheaper than the thousands of pounds a family can save by going in term time.
“A wider discussion about radically changing the approach of how school terms work is needed nationally.”
Alongside sharing best practice, the Town Hall has turned to several initiatives to drive attendance up within the borough, including bus stop campaign posters and text messaging hundreds of parents whose children’s attendance fell below 95%.
Earlier this year, a committee member criticised the local authority’s action plan to tackle absences as “quite vague”. Dr Rachel Wrangham, who no longer sits on the panel, said it was important to focus on what was “keeping children out” of school.
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