More than 55,000 children missing out on school in the West Midlands
'Class of 10,000' campaign warns children are missing out on education
A new campaign is warning there are nearly 900,000 secondary school pupils across England who are 'persistently absent' from class - those with an attendance record of 90% or below.
In the West Midlands, there are 55,686 pupils who are regularly missing lessons.
Birmingham is one of the worst areas in the UK, with almost 22,000 children persistently absent.
The 'Class of 10,000' campaign also found that Truancy fines collected by local councils total £7m a year.
In the West Midlands, Solihull, Dudley, Walsall, and Sandwell, were the only local authorities to say how much they spent in the last three years on tackling the issue - a combined total of over £3.6million.
Between them, the education authorities covering the West Midlands metropolitan area have collected more than £800,000 in fines for non-attendance.
Online school Minerva’s Virtual Academy (MVA) has teamed up with two not-for-profit organisations, Square Peg and Not Fine in School, to raise the issues which are keeping young people out of the classroom and highlight the solutions available.
Mental health problems like anxiety, alongside neuro-developmental issues, were the top reasons children were missing out, as well as complex additional needs, such as disability.
Alternatives like online schooling highlighted
Hugh Viney, who founded MVA during the COVID-19 pandemic said: “Mainstream schools aren’t suitable for every pupil,” he continued. “Many young people thrive in a traditional school environment but, for a significant proportion, a bricks and mortar setting simply cannot meet their needs. Homeschooling during the pandemic highlighted this issue.
“That is what has driven us to start this campaign. We know from experience that online schooling can help many of these children, but the government and many local education authorities are reluctant to go down that route.
“Very few authorities know where these children are or why they’re not in school, and they think that slapping their parents with a fine is a reasonable solution. But that’s clearly not solving a problem which is growing by the day.
"We want to try and help 10,000 children back into education through dialogue with local authorities - that is just 1% of the estimated number of children who are currently missing out.”
Dr. Beth Bodycote at Not Fine In School said: “Our education system has remained largely unchanged for decades despite the significant differences that we have seen in just one generation – in technology, politics, social justice, and more.
“The statistics on school absences shows the current system simply isn’t working for increasing numbers of children, their families, school leaders or teaching staff. We need to have a grown up conversation about how we address these issues, and what part alternative provisions to ‘mainstream’ schools can play.”
Government response
In response to pupil absences, the government has told us it is taking steps to target persistent student absence.
In September it launched a new national dashboard to monitor national attendance trends.
A 1-2-1 attendance pilot programme was set up in in Middlesbrough providing tailored support to more than 1600 pupils over a three year period.
And the establishment of an Attendance Action Alliance will look to remove barriers which prevent children from attending school.
"Vast majority of children are in school"
A Department for Education spokesperson said:
“The vast majority of children are in school and learning but we are offering targeted help for children who are regularly absent. This includes working with multi-agencies to identify pupils who are at risk of becoming, or who are persistently absent and working together to support those children to return to regular and consistent education.
“We are also offering all schools and colleges a grant to train senior mental health leads to support schools by helping put an effective mental health approach in place.
"More than 11,700 schools and colleges have received senior mental health lead training grants so far, including more than 6 in 10 state-funded secondary schools, backed by £10 million provided in the 2022/23 financial year.”