Sue Talbot, Lead School Commissioner, presented a report considering issues of pupil absence and attendance and school exclusions prepared in response to Members’ concerns regarding the level of school exclusions in the Borough.  The submitted report also provided an evaluation of this issue as they impacted on the Wirral Plan Pledges - Children are Ready for School; Young People are Ready for Work and Adulthood; and Vulnerable Children Reach their Full Potential.

The Committee was advised that absence was an acknowledged issue, and that authorised absence within the Borough’s schools was high when compared with elsewhere.  Work would continue with Head Teachers to improve attendance, particularly with regard to persistent absence which, if flagged up in Ofsted reports, meant that it was difficult to achieve a ‘good’ rating.  It was intended to review support and launch a new initiative in September that would wrap round services in support of attendance a lot earlier.

With regard to school exclusions, the Committee was advised that the national trend was for exclusions to rise as schools transferred to academy status, but that work was being undertaken locally with Head Teachers to talk through issues and cases and to look to wrap around services to address issues.  The results were promising, with exclusions over the spring term showing a marked decrease over a similar period last year. 

The Chair referred to concerns expressed previously by the Committee regarding home schooling, including the numbers being home schooled and how the quality of this schooling was checked.  The Committee were informed that there were 148 electively home schooled children in the Borough, of whom 13 had never regularly attended school; 135 children had started in school provision but had been removed subsequently, a number of whom had contact with the children and mental health service; and of the 148 children, 106 had no form of special educational need.  The Committee was advised that the Education Act 1996 placed the duty to ensure a child’s education on the parent.  Should a parent write to a Head Teacher to electively home school, a referral was made to the Education Welfare Service to seek a home visit to assist the parent in considering how to home school and to signpost to resources.  There was also an annual visit which the parent could refuse.

It was advised that home schooling was an area of vulnerability that the Department was concerned about.  Members noted the concern, but stressed that the Committee was interested in all reasons for withdrawal from the school system and that these concerns needed to be presented in a manner that did not suggest a particular implication on parents exercising their right to home school.  Councillor Moira McLaughlin presented, as a safeguarding issue, a suggestion that some schools were encouraging home schooling as a means to prevent exclusion.  It was confirmed that the Department were aware of such suggestions, and the Education Welfare Officers were tasked with challenging parents where such indications were given to ascertain the position.

Councillor Warren Ward noted the provided figures regarding permanent and fixed term exclusions, but queried the use by schools of internal exclusions which had no particular limits attached.  Noting that schools have their own approaches and tolerances, he asked whether it would be possible to see how many such exclusions there were, suggesting that internal exclusions led to permanent and fixed term exclusions and that they might reflect a particular demographic.  It was agreed that the information might prove useful, but noted that Academies were not obliged to provide such information.

RESOLVED – That

(1)  the Absence / Attendance and Exclusions Report 2018, appended to the submitted report, be noted; and

(2)  a further report be submitted to this Committee considering issues related to home schooling, including the geographic spread of home schooling across the Borough and, where home schooled children had previously been in a school setting, which school(s) they had attended.