Last year I started off my first blog of the academic year talking about the power of partnership and the importance of attendance. At the risk of being repetitive, I wish to focus my September/October blog this year on this same topic but with a slight difference.

The difference is not the message, that is the same; the slight difference is the way we achieve the message following research that exists now as to why, as a country, we are struggling with a national attendance crisis post COVID.

One of the main areas of research I focussed on was a study completed by Dr Sally Burtonshaw and Ed Dorrell. In this study the authors sought to understand the views of parents and the experiences of families that sit behind the national attendance statistics. I was keen to use this research as I profoundly believe that the College and parents must work together as partners to secure the best possible provision and outcomes (and these are not purely academic at all) for the children of this community.

The research laid out clearly what the current issues are, as you can see, in the following quote:

“Attendance in schools is in crisis, with profound consequences both for our education system and for society more widely. For decades, daily attendance at school, by every pupil, every day, throughout term time has been part of the unspoken social agreement between schools and families.

This is no longer the case.

The closure of schools during the pandemic, compounded by the subsequent shift in attitudes towards wellbeing and rising mental health problems in young people, as well as the cost-of-living crisis and enduring industrial action by teacher unions, all seem to have contributed to a gulf in expectations between families and the government”.

This study captures the sense of betrayal that many parents and their families feel toward the system. As a school leader, it is imperative that I hear these views and I understand this sense of betrayal. If we are to be partners, I can only do this justice by understanding these views and then seeking to find a way forward accordingly.

The study came up with 10 key findings and I want to focus on three of these in this blog:

1. COVID has caused a seismic shift in parental attitudes to school attendance that is going to take a long time to change.
2. It is no longer the case from the parents' view that every day matters.
3. Attendance sanctions are seen as antagonistic across all parent groups.

If we look at finding number 1 and 2 first, it is increasingly apparent that the COVID lockdowns followed by the school closures due to industrial action last year have left many parents querying whether daily attendance at school is necessary or not. Indeed, the summary in the study for this finding says:

“There has been a paradigm (complete) shift in the views of parents. Pre Covid ensuring your child’s daily attendance at school was seen as a fundamental element of good parenting. Post COVID, parents no longer felt that to be the case, and instead view attending school as one of several, often competing, options or demands on their child on a daily basis, against a backdrop of a more holistic (rounded) approach to daily life.”

Taking this on board, it is clear to me that we have ongoing work to do as a College to help parents understand again why coming to school is, in fact, such an important part of their child’s social and emotional development as well as intellectual development which will help build towards a successful future for the child.

The feedback through this study from parents has really made me think about how so much of the trust between parents and schools was probably lost during the pandemic, and not necessarily as a fault of schools.

The fact that schools were shut, and the burden of education was placed on parents during some of the most challenging times we have faced as a society since the Second World War, I think has been underestimated by the Government and Department for Education subsequently. So many children with SEN would have really struggled to access learning independently at home, and the feeling of abandonment was probably quite high. Likewise, for children and families where learning for multiple siblings had to be shared through one device. The personal input of the teacher, the words and looks of encouragement, the praise and one to one feedback sat side by side with the child was all lost through the virtual medium.

As a sector, all of us working in education (so by this I mean not only us in the College, but Hampshire County Council, the DfE and many of the agencies that work alongside education) need to consider how we rebuild this relationship and this trust. As a starting point, I am pleased to see that the first recommendation made at the end of the study is all about how we work on our partnership with you and how we communicate with you about attendance and what we can do to support you child. I have talked about this a lot over the last year, but it remains my ongoing commitment going forward. In particular, I want to focus on the partnership with our parents who have children with SEN and low attendance and look at how we specifically work with these parents in partnership to rebuild the trust and hope of progress with education.

If we look at the 3^rd finding now that I have chosen to focus on in this blog, attendance sanctions such as fines for non-attendance to school, are not effective and can be counterproductive. Unfortunately, it is not in my gift to move away from the legal process in some cases, because I am still required to do this, but it is in my gift to change some of the language in our attendance meetings and contracts, so that it is focussed much more on the partnership between College and parent and what each of us will endeavour to do to support the best interests of the child. Certainly, I have worked hard over the last year to increase the capacity of our pastoral team to enable a greater breadth and depth of support. The creation of our own internal mental health support team headed up by Miss Bishop has been absolutely key to this, as has the appointment of Mrs Wishart, whose role is more about College and family liaison and support, than the attendance officers role previously. Through this team we are working hard to make sure that we can support parents with appropriate signposting and referrals to relevant agencies or support groups, and we can work proactively with Council organisations like Housing or with the GP service to make sure that we are again getting the right support in place for the family and the child.

Alongside this I have tried to increasingly meet the needs of children with SEN who find the mainstream curriculum overwhelming. Over the last 12 months we have looked to create alternative curriculums for Year 9 and 11, with Year 10 starting soon which are aimed at growing self esteem and self-confidence; two of the most important gifts that I believe we can give to a child.

There is a lot of work to do in these areas and I am of course as always hampered by funding pressures*, but I want parents to know that it is my complete commitment to continue to try and make sure that what we offer here at the College meets the needs of every changing world around us and the children finding their way in this world.

*I will just say that another recommendation in the report is that better funded schools would have a significant impact on the offer that we are able to provide to the wide range of needs that we now have within our communities.

I will finish by just sharing some data with you, which proves that our partnership working is making a difference, and we are as a community doing well for our children. Below is a table which shows the College attendance to date against national average attendance, and I have highlighted all the areas where our attendance as a College is higher than national.

All Pupils		All	Year 7	Year 8	Year 9	Year 10	Year 11
All Pupils	School	92.5%	96.2%	92.6%	92.2%	91.4%	89.1%
	National	92.1%	95.1%	92.4%	91.3%	90.9%	90.6%
	Difference	0.3%	1.1%	0.2%	0.9%	0.5%	-1.5%
SEND		All	Year 7	Year 8	Year 9	Year 10	Year 11
SEND	School	90.7%	94.2%	88.4%	89.5%	84.6%	80.0%
	National	87.6%	92.9%	88.1%	86.1%	85.1%	84.4%
	Difference	3.1%	1.3%	0.3%	3.4%	-0.5%	-4.4%
		All	Year 7	Year 8	Year 9	Year 10	Year 11
Not SEND	School	94.3%	97.0%	94.3%	93.7%	94.6%	91.6%
	National	93.1%	95.7%	93.4%	92.5%	92.1%	91.9%
	Difference	1.2%	1.3%	0.9%	1.2%	2.5%	-0.3%

Finally, I would like to include this easy reference guide which illustrates what these percentages look like in terms of days absent from school.

And just to finally, finally, finish off completely - I want to share with you two fantastic pieces of work which show the wonderful curiosity children have when they are learning and where it takes their own intellectual development. This at the end of the day is what we should all be striving towards - a next generation who have an appetite and love of learning new things. After all, our future realistically, is in their hands.

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Representation of My Soul - by Ivy Duncan, Year 8

The soul is portrayed in multiple ways since we all have different interpretations of what a soul is, means, does, or even if it exists. Although there are different ideas and interpretation, they all focus on the soul being what makes a person individual. It holds a person’s opinions, morals, emotions, ideas, dreams – as well as – what makes someone unique. One of the main interpretations of the soul is a bird in flight, since it represents its immateriality.

For example, the white dove is used by Christians because it represents peace, which can be a state of being associated with the human soul. However, Jews see the dove as the spirit of God or the Holy Spirit (part of the Holy Trinity). This is like the Hindu Trimurti, who are the 3 different aspects of Brahma. Hindus believe in reincarnation, which is the birth a soul in another body. Another interpretation is that the Ancient Egyptians believed people had a ‘Ba’ which was a spiritual manifestation, which would leave the body after death, and is seen as a symbol of rebirth. The Ba would represent a different bird for different people, because of who they are as a person.

I am not entirely sure, what my interpretation of the soul really is yet but as I get older the experiences, I have may help me figure it out. At the moment, I have a lot of interest in the bird in flight representation. This is why, I have chosen to use this example in my drawing. However, instead of choosing a currently existing bird I have drawn one that is more personal to me.

The colours I have chosen for this bird are blue, green, and yellow. Besides the fact, they are both my favourite colours I chose green because it represents nature and harmony, and blue because it represents trust, purpose, and wisdom. Both also represent loyalty. The reason I chose yellow are in the annotations.  I also made the bird quite small because I believe that the soul grows as people grow and mature and as I am only 12 there are still many experiences in the future, that will enable my soul to grow as I become older.

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Gothic Lament - by Ellie Barnard, Year 9

In the realm where darkness reigns,
Amidst the haunted halls and chains,
A Gothic tapestry unfurls,
With tales of sorrow, it enchants and swirls.

Beneath the moon's melancholy gleam,
Lies a world of nightmares and dream,
Where spectres dance in spectral waltz, 
And moonlit shadows etch their faults.

Through misty moors and ancient tombs,
Lurk secrets deep, in silent gloom, 
Whispered echoes of love's demise,
And whispered pleas of the restless cries.

The crumbling castles, ivy-clad,
Guard the memories of loves gone mad,
Their walls adorned with ghostly sighs, 
And portraits weeping forgotten lies.

In candlelit chambers, hearts aflame,
Love's embers flicker, bear no shame, 
Yet passion turns to aching despair,
As lovers' tragedy fills the air.

Bleeding roses, petals stained,
Symbolize love's beauty, now pained, 
Thorns pierce hearts with cruel delight, 
Love's twisted dance in endless night.

With every gust, the wind's lament,
Carries the tales of souls unbent, 
In this Gothic world, where shadows dwell,
A symphony of darkness, a haunting spell, 

So let us wander through the abyss, 
Embrace the anguish, the bittersweet bliss, 
For in the Gothic verse, we find release,
In the depths of darkness, our souls find peace.