Improving Pupil Attendance in Islington - A Borough-Wide Approach Your child’s education is their future … don’t let them waste it! Good attendance at school is the single most important factor to ensure that young people have the maximum life chances - attendance is strongly linked to educational achievement. Promoting positive school attendance is everyone's responsibility.

Give school attendance 100% Pupils who miss school risk failing to achieve what they are capable of. Figures have shown that 90% of persistent, poor or non‐attenders fail to achieve five or more good grades at GCSE and approximately one third achieve no GCSEs at all. Developing good habits of attendance and punctuality are key life skills. When pupils miss school … they miss out! Islington’s primary absence has dropped by 1 whole percentage point, a larger fall than any of our comparators have achieved. Islington’s rates of primary absence are still higher than all of our comparators but the gap is now just 0.1% between LBI and London, Inner London and our (new) statistical neighbours and 0.2% between England and Islington. LBI’s Primary persistent absence (PA) figure fell by 1.2% percentage points, again substantially more than any of our comparators (the largest fall amongst them was 0.8% for England). Finally, our 4 Year Old’s absence fell by 1.5 percentage points to 6.0%. Out of our comparators, Inner London had the largest fall of 1.2%.

Do you know what it means? Do you know what your child’s current attendance and/or punctuality figure is? Do you know what it means? Do you know what effects it could have on their future? Good attendance is important in order for children to: Achieve their potential. Develop a positive attitude towards school and good habits of punctuality and attendance. See themselves as an important part of the school community and to value and respect school life. Schools recognise that this can only be achieved through a close partnership with parents.

The Role of Parents/Carers: It is a legal obligation of all parents/carers to ensure their child attends school regularly. By law all children of compulsory school age (5–17) must get a proper full time education. Parents are responsible for ensuring children attend school regularly in a condition to learn. Children should be at school by 9.00am each morning. Parents should contact the school as soon as possible if a child is going to be absent or late for any reason e.g. doctor, dentist and provide an appointment card. The school has a dedicated phone line for reporting absence. Parents should send a written note into school with the child on their return, giving reasons for the absence. Parents may be required to provide medical evidence to substantiate that their child’s illness required them to be absent from school, i.e. some form of medical verification.

What does ‘good attendance’ mean? Is this good attendance? What does 90% actually mean? Not the same as 90% on a test, which would usually be a good outcome!

What impact might this have on your child’s future …?  90% attendance = ½ day missed every week! Over one school year this is 4 weeks of learning lost! Over the 5 years at your secondary school you will have missed half a year! What impact might this have on your child’s future …? 17 missed schools days means that in secondary school they could drop a whole GCSE grade. The greater the attendance, the greater the potential achievement. 8 days absence = 96% 19 days absence = 90% Would this level of attendance be acceptable for anyone in full time employment?

Attendance & Attainment Chances of success at GCSE 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 100-95% 94-92.5% 92.4-91% 90% 89% 88% % Attendance A* - C% Attainment Illustrates the points made in the last slide.

Punctuality matters too Punctuality matters too! missed minutes = missed learning = missed opportunities! Being frequently late for school adds up to lost learning: Arriving 5 minutes late every day adds up to over 3 days lost each year. Arriving 15 minutes late every day is the same as being absent for 2 weeks a year. Arriving 30 minutes late every day is the same as being absent for 19 days a year. 19 days lost a year through being late means 90% attendance.

Some Strategies to Improve Punctuality Bedtime routines – packing school bag ready for the next day, getting to bed earlier, setting a time for a television, IPad, computer, mobile phone and other devices to be turned off. Morning routines – setting the alarm earlier, no television until ready for school (and maybe not even then), having breakfast before leaving home, so no need to call in at the shop, meeting a reliable friend to walk to school with. Coming to school for breakfast club if available. Routines are crucial!

What does all this tell you? To work towards achieving their potential, your child needs to be in school on time every day. Their attendance needs to be above 95%. So, ultimately the message is that 90% attendance is simply not good enough! Remember, there is no relationship between school attendance percentages and test/examination percentages, where 90% would be considered good! Not about bringing children to school if they are genuinely sick – know your child! In most cases, ‘common sense’ should prevail!

What does your child want to do when they leave school? This may be a long way off for some, but whatever they decide, their school attendance is vitally important to give them the best start in life. All employers and colleges look at attendance and punctuality as major factors in recruiting people. Bad habits formed now can impact negatively on the future!

Some young people will be hoping to secure jobs after school. However, for others a college course or apprenticeship could lead to a more secure future. Ultimately, the more they learn, the more they can earn! Have to be attending in order to learn!

What could potential earnings look like? Graduate degree £16.10 A Levels per hour GCSE’s £10.25 Minimum (A*-C) per hour Minimum wage at 18 £9.00 wage at 16 £5.13 per hour £3.79 per hour per hour Qualifications Average potential earnings per hour Question: How much do you want to earn?

Attendance & Punctuality: Key Messages Your child’s attendance and punctuality is being monitored all the time, but targets should be set each term. Pupils with low attendance and punctuality will be highlighted and given extra support to improve this. In Islington 96% or above is considered to be good attendance. Nationally 85% or below means a pupil is considered to be a persistent absentee and so there will be involvement and monitoring by the Education Welfare Service.

“Young children don't play truant from school, they are off because their parents allow it.” Charlie Taylor, the Government’s expert advisor on attendance and behaviour The same can be said about punctuality – young children are late for school because their parents allow it …

For more information For more information please see: Improving Pupil Attendance in Islington: The Role of Parents/Carers Questions/Comments?