Issue - meetings

School Attendance

Meeting: 04/12/2019 - Education and Learning Scrutiny Committee (Item 10)

10 School Attendance pdf icon PDF 726 KB

To consider the report of the Corporate Director Education.

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report of the Corporate Director of Education which was presented to provide Members with the opportunity to scrutinise attendance data for Blaenau Gwent at Primary and Secondary school level for the academic year 2018-19.

 

The Education Welfare Manager spoke to the report and highlighted the main points contained therein.

 

A Member referred to the 1.6% persistent absenteeism, the Education Welfare Manager said that there were some inconsistencies with how individual schools dealt with persistent absenteeism, however, the Education Welfare Service worked closely with schools to promote regular school attendance and to embed new working practices which supported this aim.  The Service was also looking at how other local authorities dealt with this issue.  She added that the majority of absences were due to illness and not holidays.

 

A Member commented that some parents were hard to reach and schools were working hard to promote good attendance and address persistent absenteeism.

 

A Member enquired if school staff absenteeism was recorded.  The Director of Education confirmed that school staff absences were reported to the relevant scrutiny committee i.e. school staff attendance data would be presented to the Education & Learning Scrutiny Committee for consideration.

 

A Member referred to PISA data for 15 year olds.  The Director of Education said that this was a sample across Wales.  The headline was positive but not perfect and reflected the data accurately but the ambition remained to improve. 

 

In response to a Member’s question regarding truancy, the Education Welfare Manager said that absences were challenged and an officer would make a home visit if necessary.  Schools shared good practice, one school had introduced battle boards and punctuality boards.  Working as a multi agency to look at attendances provided a more effective service and strong links with Children’s Services enabled referrals to be made.  The Director commented that forensics of high level data enabled the team to work more effectively using code analysis.  

 

The Committee AGREED to recommend that the report be accepted and endorse Option 2, namely that the report be accepted as provided.