Agenda item

For the Select Committee to receive the report on Children Missing Education in Buckinghamshire.

Contributors:

Cllr Anita Cranmer, Portfolio Holder, Children’s Services & Education

Simon James, Service Director for Education

Papers:

Committee report

The Chairman invited Cllr Anita Cranmer, Cabinet Member for Children’s and Education, and Simon James, Service Director for Education, to speak on this item. Simon James answered Cllr Stuchbury’s questions, which had been put during the public questions section, and then gave further details within the presentation as follows:

1.      What is the percentage and number of pupils with EHCPs that are CME?

3% of the CME cohort

2.      What is the percentage and number of pupils at SEN Support that are CME?

15% of the CME cohort

In their presentation, the following points were highlighted:

·       The definition of a missing child encompassed anyone not on school rolls at compulsory school age, except for those being home educated. Pupils at the greatest risk of missing education included children from traveller families or asylum seekers, those with parents in the armed forces, those excluded from school and those with chronic health conditions. Regular house moves or not starting school at the appropriate age had been noted as possible reasons for missing education.

·       As of July, 67 children were missing education, with the highest numbers having been noted in Aylesbury and High Wycombe. The split of children missing education is broadly 50/50 between boys and girls.

·       The Council had a range of responsibilities, including identifying children missing education. The three main priorities that had been identified for the next 12 months were: supporting the most vulnerable families, ensuring that both schools and parents were proactive and establishing a multi-agency panel for children missing education to ensure faster integration back into schools.

During discussion, comments and questions raised by the Committee included:  

·       Most of the 67 children missing education belonged to the Gypsy/Roma/Traveller communities. There was also a category where a school place had not been recorded, for example if the child had left the county and not notified the Education Department. Simon James noted that a further breakdown of those categories could be provided to the Committee.

ACTION: SJ

·       It was noted that the highest number of children from Gypsy/Roma/Traveller communities missing education was in years nine and ten. A small team within children’s services provides support for those communities and emphasises the importance of education in terms of future opportunities. Furthermore, colleagues from both children’s services and housing would frequently visit traveller communities to better understand the vulnerabilities and safeguarding risks within those communities.

·       Home-educated children would receive regular visits from local authority officers to ensure their education met the requirements of literacy and numeracy. If the assessment found the child’s skills did not meet those requirements, the family would receive further support in terms of the curriculum.

·       The Council received regular attendance records from schools through their management information systems, as well as school census data at fixed points of the year, to monitor attendance data. This data could be shared with the Committee and Councillor Stuchbury in response to his question.

ACTION: SJ/KD

·       The schools also communicated with families and took note of children at risk of not attending, which were also shared with the Council. If those families related to vulnerable groups, the Council would also work with the pupil referral units. Attendance also tended to improve over the course of the academic year.

·       It was noted that the transition from primary to secondary school was particularly challenging for some families. There was also an overlap with those age groups at the pupil referral unit. The Council’s oversight of those children therefore needed to be higher as they were more vulnerable to exploitation in the community.

·       Gareth Drawmer explained that over the course of 2021/2022, 570 instances of children missing education had been logged, with only 30 instances remaining open for more than three months. The Council and its partnership worked rapidly in ensuring the families in question were located and the child’s school destination established. There were some families with cases open longer than 12 months, which were subject to biannual local authority checks. The admissions teams were also aware of cases where parents incorrectly completed transfer forms, which were included in the number of children missing education.

·       A Member suggested that information materials could be sent out to parents of children in years 9 and 10 to ensure the Council could be notified if the child had left education. Simon James welcomed this suggestion.

The Chairman thanked the presenters for their attendance and participation.