“I read an amazing book over the holiday,” says Tamara Allen, deputy chief executive of the Lincoln Anglican Academy Trust (LAAT), holding up Poor by Katriona O’Sullivan. “She writes about her abject poverty as a child, having dirty clothes, no money, and her parents being in and out of rehab.
“It’s raw, and it’s out there. We tend to use the word ‘disadvantage’ in schools, but it’s not just disadvantage. Some of our pupils are poor, and most children living in poverty are also coping with other problems. Often, it is teachers who give those children their dignity by noticing them and seeing something in them – and even providing a clean uniform. But the children need to be in school.”
Ms Allen and senior leaders at LAAT have completed drafting an attendance policy for the Trust – which comprises 23 schools educating almost 4,000 pupils – to rebuild an understanding with families over the importance of attending school regularly.
Like every school and multi-academy trust, LAAT has been battling an epidemic of absenteeism among pupils, which has escalated since the Covid pandemic and school shutdowns and appears to be fuelled by an emerging belief by some parents that missing days here and there isn’t the end of the world.
Disadvantage – poverty – is often a root cause of children failing to turn up to school, as families struggle with day-to-day living. And while pupils may come from a wide range of socio-economic and professional backgrounds, the message around attendance applies to all.
A survey of 4,000 parents carried out by LAAT early in 2024 shone a light on parental attitudes towards school, learning and attendance, and provided the proof that the leadership needed that a re-set between school and the home was required. About ten per cent of parents responded.
One of the messages received by families during the pandemic was that school wasn’t important. One respondent to the LAAT survey said that the swift closure of schools “sent a message that education is not as much of a priority as was previously thought. For children to so quickly be given months off school, most parents now wouldn’t question what difference a day or two here and there makes to their child’s education.” Another said: “Covid proved that children can learn outside of the classroom effectively.”
Subsequent studies have shown that school shutdowns negatively affected the relationship between school and the home. Four years on, and not attending school regularly has simply become a norm for many.
In August, the government raised the fines for absenteeism for term-time holiday from £60 to £80 if paid within 21 days, and £160 if paid within 28 days which raised raises the stakes even higher.
“In the past, fines may have had limited impact on some families because their attitude was that it’s cheaper to go on holiday in June than in August, the impact on their child’s mental health will be positive and they can catch up with lost learning using a tutor,” Ms Allen says. “But increase in fine amounts and also the prosecution of parents after two fines within a three year period might now make parents rethink Legally, we have no choice but to enforce the law. But what we can do is continue to be reflective on our attitude and approach to absenteeism, to try to be even more understanding and supportive, and trying to mitigate some of the problems that lead to poor attendance before they escalate.”
One respondent said: “Children deserve the opportunity to have this quality family time and also experience other cultures. This is as important as education but could be limited to a week only. Unfortunately, the cost of holidays is extortionate and so it’s reasonable that people want to mitigate this.”
Another, perhaps reflecting the new mood among parents towards school generally, said: “I don’t believe it is right to stop or prevent a family from having family time. Providing parents are ensuring exam periods are not disturbed. Schools and councils thinking they have more rights to our children than the parents is totally wrong. We send them for education yes, but a classroom is not the only source of education!”
To that end, LAAT’s document entitled Attendance Policy and Values, sets out expectations around the importance of school attendance. It spells out the law and empathises the implications of missing lessons. It talks about the ‘building blocks’ that made up education and lead to academic achievement. Ms Allen likens this to a game of Jenga.
“If you’ve got a pretty stable base, you can take one of those blocks out and not much will happen,” she says. “But if you take out some of the pieces at the bottom and you’ve then got multiple gaps, everything becomes very wobbly.” That ‘wobble’ can result in young people failing to gain qualifications, entering university or getting the job they want.
At the same time as setting out parental responsibilities, the document lays out a 15-point plan of what parents and pupils can expect from the school to mitigate the challenges that families face. For example, its schools aim adapt the curriculum to pupils who feel overwhelmed, with additional mental health support to those who need it.
Pastoral support staff help children struggling to come to school, while family workers can facilitate access to family services. Children with long-term absences due to illness will be offered a reintegration plan, so they can phase their return to school in a manageable way. Pupils will also be assessed for unmet needs with Early Help Assessments so that any learning challenges can be addressed as early as possible.
The aim is to draw parents back to school, to remind them why education is important, and to develop and nurture dialogue through mutual trust and collaboration. Overwhelmingly, the message is one of kindness: ‘If there’s a problem, come and talk to us’.
“The first intervention has to be a phone call to ask if everything is alright, not a harshly-worded letter focused on the child’s attendance record, and suggesting they’re a terrible parent,” Ms Allen says.
“We’re not here to be judge and jury, or to punish the families for what is going on in their lives when they are not in school. We want to be warm, and to embrace. We want to implement mechanisms to make it happen, and we need to review these regularly to ensure they are working.”
Despite the odds – a childhood of neglect and abuse, teenage pregnancy and homelessness – Katriona O’Sullivan turned around her life from the abject poverty she describes in Poor to best-selling author and leading academic. Ms Allen wants to equip pupils at LAAT schools, regardless of background, with the skills to be able to do the same, by being regular school attenders and getting a good education.
“If we don’t, we risk pupils leaving school not ready for the next phase of their lives, and I’m not comfortable with that thought. You can’t just tinker around the edges with bits of support here and there, and then threaten parents when it’s not working.
“We have to manage their expectations, and ours, and meet somewhere in the middle.”
