‘Horrifying’: Persistent absences in Camden schools still higher than national average, council says

The amount of pupils missing at least one in 10 school lessons in Camden is higher than the national average, the council has said.

Recent data from a Town Hall report revealed that while attendance levels had climbed back from their post-Covid nadir, repeated absences are still a serious concern and have a way to go to return to pre-pandemic rates.

At a meeting of the Children, Schools and Families scrutiny committee yesterday, councillors pored over the striking statistics.

“The actual numbers are horrifying,” Cllr Patricia Leman said, pointing to the 1,505 primary schoolchildren classed as persistently absent.

“Given what we know about the importance of early years, I want us to ask, ‘Who are they, and what more should we be doing to get them into school on a regular basis?'”

Illness is the largest single reason for pupils’ non-attendance—accounting for more than half of all absences in 2022/23, the report stated.

Vikram Hansrani, director of education and inclusion, highlighted the particular risk of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) missing their lessons.

Children with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) have a 35 per cent rate of persistent absence nationwide, compared to 36 per cent in the borough.

EHCPs are provided to young people with complex special needs who need more support or resources than their school or educational setting’s standard offer.

Last month, a council inquiry into SEND support across the borough revealed “growing discontent” with a system plagued by financial pressure and families’ frustration.

“We absolutely recognise that these are figures that we need to tackle and ensure families and schools feel supported in meeting the needs of children,” Hansrani said.

“Nationally and regionally, we know of the challenges regarding ensuring school inclusivity. We recognise the lack of appropriate support is in direct correlation with lack of attendance.

“Some children are struggling to attend due to inadequate support in schools, failure to meet their needs in mainstream schools, which can of course result in increased stress and anxiety.”

Camden has invested an additional £1.3 million in its SEND and inclusion team to improve the support offer available to schools.

This year, the council ran a capital grant funding round for schools, and awarded  £2.5 million to 28 schools in grants to “enable them to make changes to their buildings and spaces to improve inclusion”, the report added.

While above the national average, the borough’s attendance figures reflect a wider trend of rising school absences in the aftermath of the pandemic.

In March, data from the Department for Education (DfE) showed record levels of pupils missing schools for long periods, with 150,000 children at state schools classed as “severely absent” in 2022-23.

This was 30,000 more than the year before, and 150 per cent higher rate than in 2018/19, before the pandemic.

New statutory guidance from the DfE was updated this year, alongside new government regulations which change how schools keep attendance registers and serve fixed penalty notices over absences.

The department’s new national framework requires schools to consider referring for a penalty notice if a pupil misses five days within a 10-week period.

Chris Roberts, senior adviser for safeguarding and inclusion at Camden Learning, said there was no single reason why children were absent, but that measures were being taken to improve attendance.

“Developing family hubs could strengthen support that goes round in schools, so we can improve and streamline access to early help. That’s work in progress.”

The council has employed three School Inclusion Support Officers (SISO) to provide Camden schools with guidance and resources to tackle poor attendance.

“Each Camden school now has a named SISO visiting the school at least once a term, but more regularly for schools with the highest challenge,” the report stated.

A parental text messaging campaign in partnership with some schools is also being trialled.

Roberts also raised the importance of mentoring programs, working in schools, and addressing children’s wellbeing and sense of belonging.

“If there was one silver bullet that we could just fire, we would do that,” he said.