1 in 5 children missing school

[ladykale]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66701748.amp

I don't understand these stats in the U.K. a proportion of children suffer from mental health and SEN issues which are not well supported in school, but that can't be 1 in 5!

Mental health/SEN aside, interested to hear from mums on here - do you let you kids not go to school if they don't feel like it or push back a lot?

How come school attendance rates are much higher in other European countries and very high in developed Asian countries - are their children not subject to similar mental health challenges?

Are these children at home or on the streets while they don't attend school?

I in 5 frequently missing school, not 1 in 5 not at school.

Lack of funding education - so no appropriate SEN support which makes it difficult for the whole class. What happened to the covid education
catch up tzar? He resigned when the government said they wouldn’t fund the catch programme he said was needed. This means more children behind and put under additional pressure without the support needed.

My oldest will have lower attendance this year. A lot of that is medical problems with have spiralled after not been able to access timely medical help for a simple issue.

Sadly this doesn't surprise me (I work in a primary school office and I see the daily reported absences).

Some of it of course will be due to unsupported SEN / struggles with anxiety and mental health and so on. Some will be down to genuine health issues and illnesses.

But from what I see, if our school is anything to go by, there is a growing trend for some parents (not all, of course, but there are enough of them to make a significant impact) to see school as a bit of a non-essential. Covid and home learning has exacerbated this but I think there are more and more parents who have less and less respect for schools, teachers and the education system in general and this impacts on absence figures too. There was a thread on AIBU the other day and some of the responses really showed how little respect there is from many parents for teachers and schools in the UK.

And there are, inevitably, other parents who will let their DC stay off if they even so much as complain of an ache in their left big toe. Being slightly facetious here, but these parents do exist. Some of the absence reasons reported in the school I work in are woolly to say the least. And my own DS has a friend whose attendance is dreadful - he cheerfully tells DS that he makes up illnesses to get a day off as his DM always believes him. Again, these parents might be in the minority but they are part of every school community - and their attitudes and parenting style will be impacting attendance figures too.

Schools are pretty shit at the moment, the whole system is collapsing - not sure why anyone is finding this a mystery?

The general consensus seems to be that it’s the Covid effect, or in the words of one of my colleagues, Covid “broke the spell”. Students and parents got so used to being sent home because of bubbles being closed, lack of teachers due to Covid etc that school began to be seen as optional. Big increase in school refusers as well, certainly from what I’ve seen.

Its an opinion not a consensus.

This.

Covid just exacerbated it and taught children that they don’t have to be in school.

Mental health support is dreadful and often makes the problem worse.

@FrippEnos I meant among teachers I know (I am one!)

Among teachers that I know its an opinion and only part of the problem, (I was also one!)

So interestingly, my best friend’s son is in primary school and they are having the issues with the school sending home for every little thing.

A couple of weeks ago, he was sent home because he had a rash the teachers were scared was chicken pox, despite him already having had it. His nan is also a GP surgery nurse and confirmed it wasn’t chicken pox. They asked my friend to get it confirmed by a GP. My friend refused to waste a GP’s time so the school refused to let him back for 3 days.

Then last week, her son had to be off for a genuine vommiting bug. The school had the cheek to then ring about low attendance and my friend had to had have a go at them and check how many of these days he had actually been sent home by the school. They backed down.

So this is definitely not all down to the parents.

Lots of different reasons

NHS mental health support is non existent, NHS physical health support is patchy, support for families is non existent below impossibly high thresholds.

Break down of the social contract between parents and schools - parents are less supportive or see less need to attend. This impacts behaviour and attitude to learning as well as attendance.

Pressures on schools are huge, more demands with less resources so they become increasing stressful places to be. This all acts in a loop with the factors above.

Anecdotally at least there has been a big increase in complaints about schools. It is all just a bit broken

So far this week DD has had cover teachers for 50% of the classes, no work left and teacher from another subject. So they were doing homework or reading back what they did last week. Pretty hard to convince anyone it’s essential they need high attendance for that. I know they are losing teachers and can’t recruit and I can’t imagine they’ll cut the timetable down till they can but it’s basically a youth club now.

MariaVT65

Blaming the parents and blaming the schools is a very easy way for the government to deflect criticism of what they are actually doing which is underfunding the system.
CAMHs has an 18 month waiting list
Support in school is not funded correctly
There is little or no SEND provision because schools can't afford the support staff.
There are far too few dedicated SEND schools.
and the list goes on.

My dc have had several chest infections, tonsillitis, coughs and colds since they had Covid. One of my dc was told they they should go to school with a cold, I sent them in, they were sneezing and coughing and I was sent a message saying, don’t send them tomorrow. I had that in two different schools! So in my dc’s case they have genuinely been unwell a lot more than usual.

We used to live in Germany, school attendance was very high in part because they do the opposite of the UK and encourage students to stay home if they have any signs of illness. This keeps bugs from ripping through whole classes.

I'm not comfortable with this trend of blaming parents for school absence. That is part of it but also kids are just getting sick a lot! And those with chronic illness or SEN can't access help.

It's a symptom of a broader breakdown in public services and public health.

In Ireland and we’ve received letters of warning for two of my kids. One has constant ear infections, to the level he’s stayed in hospital, and he had Covid twice. The school has doctor’s certs for all of it (bar the six days of Covid. The headmaster came up to me at pt meeting and said he was going up to apologise to people, that he has to report even though they have the proof that my son has issues (and is sent home sometimes because his ear is affecting him so much). Other has asthma and stomach issues- 90%of his days off he was actually sent home from school with them asking could we please keep him home if he seems unwell.
Maybe some parents do keep them home unnecessarily but I’d guess not- the bigger picture isn’t always the correct one

Unfortunately in my experience (and this includes way before covid) not all parents see that school is important - every day here on Mumsnet you get posts about keeping kids off for minor ailments, holidays, their birthday even. The post where the child had missed 30% of all her school days ... individually there can be a good reason but they add up and that results in these figures

My child has had diarrhoea, or vomiting, or high temp & fatigue & no appetite, for most of the winter. That’s more than half of the time. Our school attendance across the year is about 85%. Doctors have done blood tests several times, can’t find anything in particular wrong and say it’s perfectly normal and some children just have poor immune systems.

But according to the Government my child has been “persistently absent” every year for many years.

I’d like to see less harassment of sick kids and more sympathy and support from schools to be honest.

Or 😱😱 a functioning health service with doctors who can actually diagnose and heal.

Our schooling system has failed and nobody has the balls the change it.

My DC is at a specialist school and the way it's set up, and they way the learn should be how ALL students learn. Learning in ways that support the individual.

Sadly there isn't the money (but there is for billions on bullshit contracts, yeah not same pot etc etc, but could be redirected) for mainstream children to help in the community, to learn how to cook, how to shop, to have a curriculum they are interested in that keeps their attention and supports learning in typical curriculum areas.

It's a class thing too, poorer children have worse outcomes for a myriad of reasons, and they are the ones more likely to have absences.

It needs a huge overhaul. Or just smashing and starting again.

Yeah - where did i disagree with any of that?

what has funding got to do with teachers not using common sense? All i was pointing out was an example of a child being sent home unnecessarily by teachers. His parents wanted him in school.

Agreed also re NHS wait lists - one child had recurrent tonsillitis and was missing 50% of school (and if that still going in sick, just not when high temp, so really not in a state to learn much). Waitlist was 3 years to get them removed in our area. After a while we went private due to the disruption to education, and hasn’t been sick of off school since. If we hadn’t been able to do that, then there would have been years disruption to school attendance.

looking at other friends - inadequate provision for ND children, sometimes then leading to further issues with a breakdown in mental health as the system doesn’t work for them.

overstretched teachers and a system that is too ridged for small children, leading to school refusal issues.

parents who just don’t care.

Absolutely the school system is falling apart.
Read any teacher thread and they will tell you the system is not working and teachers are leaving
Stressed overworked teachers mean they don't have time to go the extra mile on the little bits that make the environment fun and feel more family like for a child.

Loss of teachers means an increase in centralised cookie cutter identikit lessons that just need "delivery". Again losing the skill teachers have of growing their own way of doing things and love for their classes. It becomes about behaviour control and statistics.

Kids know this. Years spent in this environment isn't actually healthy. Its really hard on the kids.

Any anxiety, mental health issues or neirodiversity that previously might have been accommodated or curriculum adapted for is now on hyper alert and 100 times worse.

My council is trying to reduce EHCPs as they can't fund them even though parents really need support getting ehcps.

It's impossible sometimes to include in the environment we're asking kids to be in without it being difficult for that child and by extension those around them.

Our high stages exams at 16 and 18. An Australian friend was shocked we basically have 4 years where they have to retain and learn everything. Very academically driven and with the change to numbers more pressure to get higher and higher grades at one end and 50% not getting maths and English the other. What system fails half its people?!

Its an absolutely creaking system, as teachers have said for ages, and the kids are losing out. I now know so many struggling in school at the moment.

Yes camhs. I know a suicidal child for whom nothing is yet in place other than on a waiting list and this isn't uncommon.. never mind lower level support.

And the fact kids need mental health support. Growth of kids in childcare til late/both working parents/cost of living crisis/social. Issues/housing too.

So very many factors. But no, not because "mum wouldn't send him in with a tumny ache" the gov campaign made me SO cross.

it's the definition of "persistent absence" that is completely wrong. 10% is 1 day every two weeks, that is absolutely notthing! All you need is flu or covid to miss 10 days and then you'll be "persistently absent". DD had 85% attendance last year and it was a mix of covid / strep A / flu along with some doctor's appointments for allergy testing / passport applications etc.. The targets and definitions are insane.

Great post, couldn't have put it better myself.

Children don't want to go into school because it's often not a pleasant environment.
Teachers are totally stressed.
Behaviour is off the wall.
There aren't enough TAs, children who need EHCPs are refused and those with EHCPs aren't getting the resources to meet them.
The curriculum is crammed, early years and infants are becoming more formal, time for creativity, play and outdoor time is limited.
Lots of schools are responding to behaviour issues by becoming increasingly authoritarian, liberal use of detentions, isolations, zero tolerance.
If children do go in to school they are often taught by supply teachers (if lucky) or TAs. Or video lessons!
My own children have found themselves being supervised in the school hall with 60 other children as there weren't even sufficient supply teachers or cover supervisors available.
Covid definitely broke the spell and parents and children realised there was an alternative.

The way the issue is being framed is all about anxious/lazy parents and anxious/lazy children. Completely ignores the reasons that lie with schools and the government.

I would love DD2 to "just go to school". It's actually quite offensive to so many struggling kids and parents that the reason is given that parents just prefer to keep their kids home after Covid. It is SO much easier for parents if they are in school! I would really like to not pay out thousands of pounds for DD2 to see a private paediatrician, have counselling, and pay about £120 a month for ADHD medication , personally.

I have really lost faith in the secondary school system, after having DD1 who went to a really good school and thrived in it and being a complete advocate for state education. They started their education in 2010 and 2013 respectively - I have seen it change beyond measure for the worst since then particularly in secondary schools. It just fell off a cliff in 2020 and has not recovered.

2020 is when DD2 started secondary school. Her cohort (now Y10) who missed out on all the normal transitional arrangements, all the fun and school journey at the end of Y6 and the usual bonding trips in Y7 are particularly affected by poor attendance.

The only reason we don't home educate is that DD2 has a nice group of friends at school and she really wants to (try to) go to school.