It was a huge pleasure to welcome the Schools Minister, Damian Hinds to Chelmsford this week when we visited Boswell’s School. The Minister had come to find out more about school attendance and the Private Members Bill that I have been leading in Parliament.
Since the pandemic, there has been an increase in children missing out on school. This has been happening in countries all across the world. It is particularly worrying as even a tiny drop in school attendance can have long lasting consequences for children and young people.
As a mum, I always wanted my children to have a wide range of choices available to them about what they could do in their future. 14 years ago, when today’s school leavers were in reception one in three of Chelmsford’s schools were not even good. Now, every single school in the Chelmsford constituency is good or outstanding, and our nation’s children are ranked as the best readers in the western world.
Today’s young people have a huge range of choices, including moving on towards the new T Levels as well as A Levels, apprenticeships, and applying for university. But, to have those options, they need to secure five good GCSEs, including Maths and English.
At Boswells School, the staff analysed last years’ GCSE data. 82% the students that attended between 95% and 100% of lessons achieved those five good GCSEs. However, only 68% of the students that have attended between 90-90% of the time got these key grades. In all other areas, except for attendance, these student groups, were identical.
This small drop in attendance is the difference between less than 6 children in a class of 30 not getting their good grades, and nearly 10 of them missing these grades.
At Boswells, we heard how the school offers a huge range of different GCSEs so that every student can study some subjects they really love. We met with the classes studying music tech and art, as well as the A Level Law group who have just come third in the country at a major competition. We heard how the school works to support children with mental health or anxiety.
In Westminster, I have been working with leaders and experts including the national Children’s Commissioner, Action for Children, and other children’s charities. There can be multiple, complex reasons why children are absent from school.
My Private Member’s Bill will mean every local authority will have to use their services to help remove the barriers faced by some children, like access to SEND support, mental health support or transport issues, and every school in the country will need to publish a detailed attendance policy. It received unanimous cross-party support from all MPs in its second reading in Parliament. To become law, it now needs to go through a committee and third reading stage.
I absolutely understand some of the pressures on families to take time off for family holidays in term time as this can be much cheaper. During the week I also met with all the Mid and South Essex Secondary School heads to discuss the possibility of varying term times which may help families avoid only having peak season options. This is not simple to implement especially for families with children at multiple schools, but I will continue to press this and investigate what solutions may be practicable.
