Rowan's story
Case study from May 9, 2023
Rowan was missing nearly half of his schooling when he was referred to School-Home Support practitioner Maria. Providing a space where Rowan felt listened to, alongside alleviating some of the pressures Rowan was facing at home, Maria supported Rowan to improve his attendance by 15% in just two months.
What was the situation?
Rowan is 12 and lives at home with his mum and two younger brothers. Things can be unstable at home, so he does lots of the housework, cooks dinner for his brothers, and makes sure they have everything they need to get to school on time. He also spends time helping his older sister who has seven children of her own. When Rowan was referred to practitioner Maria, his attendance was 59.4% and he was missing nearly half of school.
How did School-Home Support help?
When he was referred to School-Home Support practitioner Maria, Rowan had the space to talk about himself and how he was feeling. This was especially important as, at home, Rowan was doing so much for the rest of the family and had little time for himself. In 1-1 sessions, Maria also talked to Rowan about his future ambitions and what he needs to do to achieve them. Rowan decided he would like to be a train driver, and he realised he needs to work hard at school to achieve this.
To support him at home, Maria helped Rowan to develop strategies to build more time for himself into his day, such as going to his room to read each evening and making sure he was going to bed earlier to get enough sleep.
Maria also secured a donated bike from one of our corporate partners so that Rowan could easily get himself to school after he had made sure his younger siblings had got to their school, which took a lot of pressure off Rowan in the mornings.
Working alongside social services and early help, Maria made sure Rowan’s family was getting the support they needed, easing the pressures on Rowan knowing his family was able to get support from elsewhere.
After only two months of support from Maria, Rowan’s attendance increased from 59.4% to 74.3% and he was arriving at school ready to learn, engaging better in his lessons and feeling positive about his future.
Maria reflected on her work with Rowan:
‘It was a pleasure to work with Rowan as he tried hard to maintain his attendance, which was sometimes marred by family life. Listening to him has been the best thing as he wasn’t always being listened to at home. Rowan was happy to share a lot with me about his time in school, his likes and dislikes, all without taking a breath! This process has led to Rowan attending school more and appearing more confident, as he knows there is someone who he could open up to should he wish to.’
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