Agenda item

The Sub-Committee will receive information from the Virtual Head teacher on attendance and exclusion information.

The Alternative Provision & Looked After Children Education Manager presented to the Sub-Committee a report on school attendance and exclusion in the borough.

It was noted that good school attendance was important because poor attendance was linked to poorer educational outcomes which also resulted in a safeguarding concern where a child was not in school during term time.

The Sub-Committee noted that in Havering, the issue of taking children out of school for holidays in term time continued to be a concern and from the latest data available, it outlined that Havering schools were still authorising more absence than schools in London and England averages.  

The report indicated that unauthorised absence had fallen, as had persistent absence (PA) over the past few years.  This had been reflected in a higher figure for penalty notices/fines over the past two years and showed the importance of keeping focussed on reducing these two factors in particular. The Government had changed the threshold for PA from below 85% to below 90% attendance from September 2015, which would translate to an increase in the numbers/percentage of pupils falling within the definition of PA from this academic year.

The Sub-Committee noted that in relation to exclusions, head teachers had the power to exclude pupils for any breaches of the school behaviour policy. Concerns around educational outcomes and safeguarding for pupils who were excluded meant that the Local Authority had a legal duty to provide alternative education for such pupils who were permanently excluded. 

The Alternative Provision & Looked After Children Education Manager added that permanent exclusion from a school could have a long lasting (sometime lifelong) impact on a young person. The rate of permanent exclusion in Havering in previous years had been higher than the London and England average in secondary schools and there had been increased pressures on primary schools to use permanent exclusion as a way to deal with challenging behaviour. An additional concern in Havering was that the Pupil Referral Service was currently in Special Measures.

There had been work over the past year that had focussed on improving support, challenge and protocols with schools. Measures included improving alternative provision offer for schools, strengthening the In Year Fair Access Panel (IYFAP) for young people at risk of exclusion or without a school place, and supporting the Havering Pupil Referral Service towards academisation and improving the quality of the education offered in the interim.

In response to a question from the Sub-Committee on how much importance schools needed to consider the data, the Interim Assistant Director Learning & Achievement commented that it was important that Members received aggregated data on attendance and exclusions and that it was equally important that the service drilled down to understand whether the data for any specific groups of young people were respectively lower or higher than their peers.

The Sub-Committee accepted that schools had different tolerance levels whilst also recognising that the value of service provided by the IYFAP to children in Year 7 to Year 10. Officers were of the view that the use of fixed term exclusion could work positively to reduce permanent exclusion. The Sub-Committee was advised of the production of a threshold document on exclusions with 3 different levels, support and examples of intervention. If one level fails it was escalated up to the next level.

The Sub-Committee was also informed that 85% of young people in the Youth Offending System were likely to had been excluded from a school.

The Chairman requested for data collection and feedback for special schools be circulated to the Sub-Committee.

The Sub-Committee NOTED the report.