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

The fines definitely don't work for holidays, as anyone with a basic maths knowledge can work out. If you can save £500 by going two weeks earlier, an £80 fine won't change that, you just £420.

If a child is regularly missing school for health reasons, including it not being the right environment, fining won't change that.

And if a family is struggling overall, they need support not punishment

Mine are at private school. They have longer holidays but their school day is 8.30-4 and they also have Saturday morning school from year 8, so overall their in school hours are equal to (or higher than) most state schools.

Yeah, it's shitty logic.

If X, then Y
So if they're absent in the first week, then they're attendance will be impacted all year.
Alternatively, if they have attendance issues, then they're more likely to be absent in the first week - which is what you're saying OP.

Obviously (and I say this as a teacher), attendance in the first week should be used as an indicator to get support in as quickly as possible no matter what the logical formulation has been.

Yes I get that - it's not a dig at private schools, it was a point that rubbish use of statistics can be used to prove anything.

I just saw this and said exactly that to my dh

I agree, OP. It's the same 'logic' as saying that, if we were to keep all people locked up/under house arrest for the week after they turn 18, none of them will ever commit a crime in later adult life.

You misunderstood my comment. They had 100% attendance in the first week.... then it went downhill

Not necessarily.My eldest now at college is autistic and the transfer from a rural primary to a big secondary was pure hell .The school was completely unsupportive and I had to battle the la for over two years to get her a place at a specialist smaller school with amazing Sen teachers and she thrived .

We also experienced this and it was sheer hell , the effect it had on our DD mental health was awful .In the end we refused to send her and we got her a place at an amazing Sen school , now also at college .Glad your daughter is doing better too . It is a subject I feel very strongly about .It can do real harm if not supported correctly.

Honestly the quote by Bridget Phillipson shows her complete ignorance of the reality of so many families’ lives

"Every day of school missed is a day stolen from a child's future," Phillipson said.
"As the new term kicks off, we need schools and parents to double down on the energy, the drive and the relentlessness that's already boosted the life chances of millions of children, to do the same for millions more."

It’s not about being ‘relentless’ FFS. note how there’s no commentary from government about making schools more accommodating of ND (because that would be too expensive). It’s just more parent and school blaming and gaslighting. As if mainstream schools work for everyone. Absolute bullshit.

Famileis and schools are already well aware that a kid not being able to go to school is stressful enough, resulting in job loss and possible loss of home for families, yet here’s the government telling them to have more drive and be relentless..

This is just another lame excuse to pass the buck back on to the parents whose children find it difficult to attend school.
Most children who develop an anxiety disorder regarding school pretty much have an excellent attendance beforehand, they also have high intelligence, are high achievers and are very much aware of the problems in not attending school, which has a knock on effect only making anxiety worse.
It's not poor parenting, let's stop shaming and blaming parents trying to do their best, let's stop calling it school refusal as if it's a choice. It is not a choice.
We need to accept the school environment is not a healthy place for some students, stop punishing them and start putting other forms of education in place.
Whilst schools continue to focus on attendance and achievement over wellbeing , no amount of fines, blaming or shaming is going to work.

Spot on.

"Effective transitions, with teachers and SENCos carefully ensuring children's additional needs will be met, accommodations put in place accurately and teachers properly briefed to use them, plus building confidence and trust through intelligently planned meetings and starts to the term that go at the pace of the child - are critical to avoid missing school later".

There, I fixed it for them.

School bashing starting nice and early before they go back!

We wouldn't need to bash the schools if they did the simple things that we tell them our children need in order to be there instead of crying in a ball on the floor at home.

I saw this headline and immediately thought it was a no-shit-sherlock interpretation that does nothing to help address the underlying problem.

It is blindingly obvious that a child who can't even manage to maintain full attendance in the first week - either due to mental health difficulties or poor parental engagement - is likely to have ongoing attendance issues. The implication behind the headline - that those problems could magically be overcome simply by achieving full attendance in the first week - is ludicrously simplistic and back to front.

and smaller classes, often better facilities, less tolerance of poor behaviour and are more likely to "off-roll" children who might affect their results.

I do think it’s particularly important everybody attends in September and children who don’t really miss out. (Teacher myself)

Obviously if a child is ill it’s unfortunate but quite often a vulnerable child will be missing and there might be a family issue or just that the parents haven’t organised everyone to get back to school. I remember one girl missing for the first week and when she turned up she had a black eye.

This thread is a masterclass in the OPs point. The amount of misreading and drawing conclusions that don’t make sense is outstanding

No they aren't "more likely to off-role". Many independent schools are highly supportive of SEND and aren't selective or academic hothouses.

Yes, a lot of SEND children end up in independent schools precisely because they can meet their needs better than the state sector. Ask me how I know 😏

I have zero respect for this education secretary despite voting for Labour who I hoped would bring education (education, education) back as a major theme for renewal.

It ‘s just been parent blaming and threatening to remove EHCPs as far as I can see. Oh and bringing in VAT on private schools which is now putting more pressure on state school SEND provision and state school places, and is more likely to cost the taxpayer than raise any revenue for anything they promised.

This is what happens when as a government you don’t listen to schools and parents and don’t give a crap about kids achievements unless they are magically all getting top exam results.

This is what scares me. My child who had a crisis in year 4 and went down to 67% attend got it back up to 100% with support from the school. He's now starting secondary school. All the medical professionals in his care believe he's "probably " autistic but I can't get a diagnosis if we're not in crisis. So far, secondary school are doing an amazing job of managing the transition but I'm definitely worried.

For those saying it's poor parenting... poor parenting was when we were so afraid of being judged that we carried a sobbing child all the way into school only to be sent home by the teacher because he clearly wasn't OK to be there. Since thrn our paediatric consultant and GP have both told us not to send him in when he's barely functioning with fear of going in (mute, unresponsive or crying uncontrollably). This isn't a manipulative child - teachers and friends parents all say he's incredibly well behaved. He's kind, thoughtful and listens to me. But when absolutely overwhelmed he just can't.

First week of school is the hardest because as anyone with neurodivergant children know it's about transition. If it's handled right, the rest of the year will be smooth.

Absolutely. I used to work in a secondary school and the head would drag out all these statistics about attendance and the impact it has on achievement. Nobody once ever stopped to consider correlation and causation. I mean, it's perfectly obvious that the type of children who are likely to not attend school, are likely for many, many, many other reasons to do as well academically; attendance is a small piece of a much bigger puzzle. I just thought it was ironic that we were supposed to be educators yet nobody ever raised the flaws in the "evidence".

• not to do well academically

The government bang on about it because they want control and obedient workers. It suits their agenda. I'm not saying that there aren't arguments to be had for promoting attendance but linking it to achievement is a fallacy.