Commenting on the Department for Education’s announcement on measures to address school absence, Jaine Stannard, School – Home Support CEO  said: “Increasing fines risks further damaging the already fragile home- school relationships necessary to get children back to school”

Recent research, conducted by Public First and commissioned by School-Home Support, into parents’ attitudes to school attendance found that parental support for full time schooling is collapsing. 

Parents said they felt abandoned at a time when life brought them complex challenges at home which made school attendance a second or third order issue. 

School level attendance systems felt increasingly draconian to families, and yet were not sufficiently robust or accurate, which undermines the relationship between school and families. 

Sanctions are seen as both irrelevant and antagonistic across all parent groups. 

At a time when one in five children are persistently absent, missing at least a day of school per fortnight and severe absence has returned to record highs with 140,000 children more often out of school than in, more than double pre-pandemic levels, ‘ undoubtedly,  the school absence crisis will hold this country back for generations to come if we don’t act urgently to help families tackle the underlying causes of high absence so children can get back to school’ Stannard said. 

Government must do more to deliver on its ambition for a support first, family centred approach to tackling absence 

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt should use the Budget to commit £90.2 million to a national service of whole family support practitioners to tackle the underlying cause of high absence. 

Schools need to be able to fund and access more support for families to help tackle the underlying causes of high absence. This could be done by: 

• Using the Budget to commit £90.2 million to provide a national service of whole family support practitioners to tackle the underlying cause of high absence in areas of greatest need

• Making the children not in school register a legislative priority to facilitate the recognition of families who need support with school attendance

• Reviewing how schools and the wider education system communicate with parents and the messaging given from schools and the government 

Minister Damian Hinds is right to make the School Attendance Guidance and data requirements statutory, but neither will turn the school attendance crisis around unless we invest in more support for families in and around schools  to tackle the root causes of absence. £90.2 million would provide 2,200 whole family support practitioners to tackle root causes of absence in areas of high need.