Serious concerns over Gloucestershire school absences

A culture change is thought to be the reason behind the rise in absences

Serious concerns have been raised over the persistent levels of school absences in Gloucestershire.

Up to one in four secondary students in the county are missing more than 10% of possible sessions.

Education chiefs have said the latest report on absences "paints a stark picture" of some parents' perception of the school system.

A culture change is thought to be the reason behind the high and persistent levels seen since the pandemic.

In a report presented to Gloucestershire County Council, it was detailed that 15.7% of primary school pupils had missed 10% of possible sessions in 2022/23.

This figure stood at 24.7% for secondary school students in the same school year, and 37.7% for special educational needs pupils.

'Culture shift needed'

Philip Haslett, head of education strategy and development at Gloucestershire County Council, said it is a national issue and Gloucestershire is performing slightly better than its peers. But he stressed "there's a real need to shift the culture".

Mr Haslett explained that a "multi-agency" group has been created to look at the report in Gloucestershire. The group involves Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, the school system and members of the council's inclusion team.

"Secondary schools are concerned about the absence issues they are seeing consistently across all schools," he told the children and families scrutiny committee.

"We've got good engagement around this but it is a cultural shift that we are really going to have to unpick and work through. That will take some time. This is a relatively stuck issue post pandemic."

Concerning local picture

Conservative councillor Tim Harman said the national figures of regular absences are alarming and the local picture is quite concerning.

He asked if applying penalties to parents would be a sensible way to solve the problem.

Mr Haslett said fines are used but some of the issues are linked to mental health and issuing a penalty notice would only exacerbate the problem.

"They are used, but very carefully," he said.

"We all hear the issue of parents taking children out of school for holiday during term time.

"Those might be examples where schools would initiate penalty notices."

Liberal Democrat councillor Roger Whyborn asked if action was being taken early enough to deal with the problem and in particular with the persistent absentees.

Mr Haslett said the school system is engaged and working to deal with the issue but they are seeing a persistent and sustained increase in absences.