First week 'critical' to avoid children missing school later, parents told

[Bloodyscarymary]

I just saw this article in the BBC and am astounded at the daft reasoning. Apparently, students who miss days in the first week of school are more likely to be persistently absent, therefore we need a critical focus on attendance in the first week to reduce absence.

I feel like someone needs to let the DfE know that correlation does not equal causation! Surely it’s just that children with factors causing absence are more likely to miss a day in the first week than children who don’t have those factors. I am pretty sure if they took a data subset from ANY week in the year, persistently absent students would be more likely to be absent in that week than non persistently absent students!

Therefore it’s not the week that’s critical, it’s the factors driving absence we need to focus on.

I am all for having a public awareness campaign but why muddy statistics like this instead of just talking about what is actually needed to solve absence.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg7jk3rr225o

I saw this, completely agree with you OP.

Meanwhile just a friendly reminder private schools have longer holidays and the parents there don't get fines. They also tend to get much higher grades than state schools and if I used the same logic as the correlation/causation about missing the first week of school then that would mean.... No fines and longer holidays = better grades!

Let's give everyone more time off and scrap the fine system and watch results shoot up.

Of anything, it should be used by schools as an indicator that these pupils may be likely to become persistent absentees. Especially if its holiday not randomly getting chicken pox for example (as a friends child just has.. they won't be at school tomorrow!)

Wow yes that is mindblowingly stupid reasoning. Obviously it wouldn't be the first week that determines absence, it would be the fact that persistently absent students are more likely to also miss school in the first week.

And to solve it with a public awareness campaign?? DofE have an actual job to do and it's not this!

The first week back sets the tone. If the parent is already agreeing to and allowing days off in the first week (subtracting those who are actually and unfortunately ill) then the child gets the message for the rest of the term/year. I see what you're saying but I also think there's something about the start and what follows

I strongly suspect that in a lot ( that’s not all ) of cases it’s poor parenting child upset ? Let them miss that day. And so it carries on. If the child realises they have to go no matter what they will stop the parental manipulation. And if the habit is formed the parents will get used to it too .

Private schools also have much longer school days though.

My daughter had 99-100% attendance all the way through primary.
Guess what happened at secondary when they refused to support her mental health. She finished with at best 60%
They keep ignoring the elephant in the room. You can't refuse to support mental health issues and also have draconian school attendance fines.

YANBU. Education is absolutely full of causation vs correlation errors imo and notably in matters of attendance.

I'd imagine poverty and disordered living pay a heavy part. E.g. "can't afford uniform til.next week so you can't go".

Unless a child is ill there is no reason thry need to miss school and giving children excuses for them missing school does not make them stay in school

Private schools generally have longer days.

I've always said this as an infant teacher of 26 years. Missing a week in July makes no difference at all. Missing a week in December is sad because they miss Christmas stuff but doesn't impact their education. Missing September is incredibly disruptive. They don't understand rules and routines, they don't get their peer group going so they're on the back foot with friends. They miss the start of new topics so they're on catch up. The educational impact goes through that autumn term but the friend impact can last all year.

@thissickbeatjust our of curiosity, what would you have considered 'supporting her mental health' to look like? What did you need or expect from the school that you didn't get?

If a parent is letting their child miss the first week for a holiday then they probably let them have other days off unnecessarily.

Has the DfE never heard of autistic burnout? Both of mine skipped into school in the first week. Then attendance dropped like a stone as the school year went on.....

I agree @Duechristmas I was a primary teacher and missing the first week made a huge impact. A week holiday in term time doesn’t necessarily make a big difference at any other time but the first week and the consistent missing of days here and there makes a huge difference.

My daughter was exactly the same.

Thankfully she’s escaped the hell that was secondary school (vomiting every morning, panic attacks, hiding in the toilets in tears) and she’s now at college. Attendance is back up to 100% again.

interesting - I thought burnout would come later in the term rather than the first week.

I’m ND and grew up in the 80s in a place with no attendance fines - my mother said she gave me frequent Wednesdays off. I was top of my class all through primary and highschool. I am really dreading sending kids to school in the UK with the fine system!

Where genuine mental health is a factor o f course its reasonable that they may struggle to transition back into the school routine.

Unfortunately, a lot of absence is not down to genuine illness, it is simply down to parenting. Encouraging good routines from the outset makes a lot of sense. I've heard a parent at dd's school several times saying her child isnt coming today because he 'wanted an x-box day', 'he just feels too tired as he was up late watching tv', 'his sister is ill so he might as well stay at home.' This sort of thing at primary level is all too common and, yes there will be exceptions, but it does have a huge impact on their outcomes and actually on their mental health too.

I don't know what the solution is because it must be extremely hard to tell the difference between necessary and unnecessary absences. Meanwhile, like with behaviour at the moment, the rest of the children who turn up wanting to learn are regularly disrupted as the teachers desperately try to help the ones who are off catch up.

Part of the problem in primary is probably the sheer size of the curriculum that is expected to be taught and learnt. One day is a lot of learning missed and equally every day children are expected to learn a huge amount, which must be really wearing. I do think that needs fixing.

I think they are trying to appeal to families “on the cusp”. Some kids obviously have huge issues with attendance at school and for very legitimate reasons. This campaign won’t affect them.

But there are families where there isn’t a good reason, other than parents not being prepared to get their kids into school on time/ at all- e.g. kids kicking off, refusing to go, pleading minor illness, family a bit chaotic so can’t get up on time. If the parents are tempted to give in in the first week then the cycle gets worse, kids miss first few days so don’t know what’s going on, miss out on friendship groups, don’t sit with a friend, fall behind, realise the “tricks” they can deploy to get out of school. And it gets worse and worse as the year progresses. I think what the government are trying to do is just encourage people to take the opportunity to make a fresh start.

private schools have longer school days then state schools

I’ve hated this attitude from DofE for years. It’s such a typically British response:

we have to do SOMETHING.

i know- let’s use a system of fines

but that doesn’t actually achieve what we want to?

yes, but achieving what we want to is a really complex social problem that requires a really dynamic and flexible response across the system, which isn’t something the DofE can design or implement because it needs to come from the local schools since each area is so different, so instead let’s put up some really dodgy studies with no longitudinal analysis and we get extra money this way as well.

oh yeah, well that works. We look like we’re doing something, we get extra money, and the only people who really get punished are the ones who can “afford” it for daring to think they know better than DofE.

YAY FOR THE SQUEEZED MIDDLE!

I just read this article and had exactly the same thought OP. People aren’t becoming persistent absentees because they missed a day or two in the first week. However people who miss days in the first week are more likely overall to be persistent absentees. They’re focussing on entirely the wrong angle, just to be seen to be doing something.

I don’t know a state school where Uniform isn’t provided for free from a hardship fund (if family asks). So I hope this isn’t true and kids don’t go as feel cannot afford the uniform. Sad.