Supporting Schools To Safeguard Children Not Attending September 2016

Daniel Phelps – Director for Early Help Aim of today Gain clarity on schools responsibility for Children Missing from Education Learning from the Multi-agency Case Review, new systems and how the Local Authority can support schools Increase understanding of those not attending and the safeguarding risks

Children Missing Education Early Help is Everybody's Business

What Actions Should Be Taken Now? Early Help is Everybody's Business Case Study – Child J Child J starts full time education in the Reception Year in September. At the beginning of Spring Term, child J’s mother advises school that she will be withdrawing Child J from the school.  School staff enquire about the reason for the withdrawal and Child J’s mother states that she knows that by law Child J needn’t attend full time school until the term after she is 5 (summer term) and she feels that Chid J is not yet ready for school. School notify their EWO, who makes telephone contact with Child J’s mother, attempting to discuss mothers concerns.  Mother is very annoyed that the school have referred the matter to the EWO and responds aggressively, refusing to explain the reasons for this sudden decision, although she did suggest that she may be moving to a neighbouring borough in the future. School inform EWO that they have made contact with Child J’s former nursery, who advised that they had some concerns regarding mothers odd behaviour whilst Child J was on roll. What Actions Should Be Taken Now? Early Help is Everybody's Business

Early Help is Everybody's Business Child J Outcome Almost 2 years later Child J was found by a shopkeeper wandering the streets at 8pm. Child J’s mother was arrested and a neighbour was asked to care for Child J but she refused, stating that she often had to care for Child J. Child J was placed into the care of her paternal uncle. Child J’s mother was later sectioned under the Mental Health Act. Child J spoke of her time caring for her mother, doing all of the household tasks. The home was found to have no furnishings, beds or electricity. Early Help is Everybody's Business

Early Help is Everybody's Business Definitions Child Missing Education – Child/Young Person is of statutory school age and not on a school roll Child Missing from Education – Child/Young Person is of statutory school age and is on a school roll or has been allocated a school place but is not attending Elective Home Education – Parent has confirmed in writing that Child/Young Person is being home educated. Parent therefore has responsibility for meeting child’s educational needs Early Help is Everybody's Business

Early Help is Everybody's Business Other Considerations Child Sexual Exploitation Radicalisation Gangs FGM Early Help is Everybody's Business

Early Help is Everybody's Business Enquiries The Education lead within the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub will be happy to assist with any enquiries and offer advice or guidance with regards to Children Missing Education. Tel: 020 8496 1774/1718 Email: cme@walthamforest.gov.uk Early Help is Everybody's Business

Education Performance & Information Jo Bell CME & Data Education Performance & Information Jo Bell

New Requirements JOINERS “All schools are required to notify the local authority within five days when a pupil’s name is added to the admission register. Schools will need to provide the local authority with all the information held within the admission register about the pupil” LEAVERS “Schools must notify the local authority when a pupil’s name is to be deleted from the admission register under any of the fifteen grounds set out in the regulations, as soon as the ground for deletion is met and no later than the time at which the pupil’s name is deleted from the register” “Where a school notifies a local authority that a pupil’s name is to be deleted from the admission register, the school must provide the local authority with: the full name of the pupil the full name and address of any parent with whom the pupil lives at least one telephone number of the parent with whom the pupil lives the full name and address of the parent who the pupil is going to live with, and the date the pupil is expected to start living there, if applicable the name of pupil’s destination school and the pupil’s expected start date there, if applicable the ground in regulation 8 under which the pupil’s name is to be deleted from the admission register Where there are concerns about a setting or authority that does not comply with the regulations or does not provide onward destination information for pupils who are removed from the register, or more generally about the practice of recording and tracking children missing education, then this should be raised with Ofsted and/or the relevant Regional Schools Commissioner”

Data Sharing “Effective information sharing between parents, schools and local authorities is critical to ensuring that all children of compulsory school age are safe and receiving suitable education. Local authorities should focus their resources effectively in intervening early in the lives of vulnerable children to help prevent poor outcomes” B2B is an application already within Schools SIMS Management Information Systems It can automatically, securely, send pupil data from a school’s SIMS database to the LA database, CAPITA ONE B2B can also be configured to receive corrected data from ONE back to Schools Access to the LA database is limited to staff performing essential functions for school support and pupil safeguarding We aim to benefit schools and pupils by using B2B reduce ad-hoc data requests to schools from LA teams improve data tracking between schools by identifying incorrect UPNs allow LA support teams to provide a better service to schools (for example more complete information in ATFs from admissions) early intervention by teams such as Early Help and Education Welfare to ensure pupils are not missing and are receiving education

Data Sharing: Where are we? Currently 71 schools/PRUs have agreed to share data using B2B Elective Home Education is being recorded on ONE 6 state-funded schools have so far declined to participate in the project 8 independent schools have not been asked to participate until now 12 of the 71 schools data did not come through last week – we need to ensure together that the B2B link working 1 school not on SIMS – we will find alternative method of data transfer

Joiners Requirement to report joiners to the LA can be met by using B2B Currently, schools are asked to inform admissions by filling in a spreadsheet Please continue to use the spreadsheet for the moment We will work with admissions to test data quality from B2B and phase out the spreadsheet We may need to use it as a temporary ‘emergency’ measure if B2B link breaks What more do we need to do to meet new requirements? Continue ensuring pupils are put on roll on the first day they are expected to attend

Leavers Requirement to report leavers to the LA can be met by using B2B BUT may still need LA permission prior to removal What is currently collected via B2B? the full name of the pupil the full name and address of any parent with whom the pupil lives at least one telephone number of the parent with whom the pupil lives the full name and address of the parent who the pupil is going to live with, and the date the pupil is expected to start living there, if applicable the name of pupil’s destination school What more do we need to do to meet new requirements? the ground in regulation 8 under which the pupil’s name is to be deleted from the admission register [note a list of these is in appendix of DfE guidance] the pupil’s expected start date at destination school Although ‘Destination’ comes through in B2B, not all is populated and information is inconsistent. Of a snapshot of data from Sept 15-June 16 651 destinations were blank (22%) Some not a school, just locality (e.g. Dagenham/Carlisle) or “out of borough” We will work on a protocol for schools to use so that destination data is accurate and meaningful

Non-Attenders “Schools must monitor pupils’ attendance through their daily register. Schools should agree with their local authority the intervals at which they will inform local authorities of the details of pupils who fail to attend regularly, or have missed ten school days or more without permission. Schools should monitor attendance and address it when it is poor or irregular. It is important that pupils’ poor attendance is referred to the local authority” Pupil absences are sent from schools to the LA via B2B Education Welfare and Early Help access the data to support families and enforce regulations

Non-Attenders The latest DfE publication is for the Autumn term 2015. It shows both primary and secondary schools in WF were worse than the national and London averages There is a correlation between persistent absence and assessment outcomes. For example, in 2016, 7% of the Year 6 cohort were absent for 10%+ sessions in the Autumn & Spring terms. There was a gap of 16 percentage points between the proportion of these pupils achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and maths and pupils who were regular attenders Schools that have purchased School Information Dashboard can find more information on attendance, persistent absence and gaps

School Information Dashboard Traded Service

How will WF use data to prevent CME? Admissions and Education Welfare to ensure pupils are on roll in a school ONE report showing admissions allocations not put on roll by school Pupils on the system (from previous schools or early years settings) but not applied for school place reported Education Welfare to ensure pupils on roll are attending school Access to pupil level attendance records Report showing pupils at risk of becoming PA Does not replace need for schools to undertake reasonable checks and refer pupils to CME

What can schools do to help? Independent Schools and LA schools not yet on B2B, please sign up Ensure IT/MIS support teams are aware of importance of maintaining B2B link Continue to submit joiner/leaver information to admissions for time being Regularly check and update pupil address and parent contact information to help track pupils if they do go missing Input accurate destination school, start date for new school, new address and grounds for removal to MIS – SIMS are going to issue an interim solution soon before having full solution next year Continue to send CTFs via S2S when pupils move schools to ensure effective tracking For further information regarding B2B, please contact the team: EDU.Performance@walthamforest.gov.uk or phone Jason Thirley (Management Information Team Leader) 0208 496 3917 My contact details are joanne.bell@walthamforest.gov.uk 0208 496 4757

Jahsynth Ramsey – Early Help Co-ordinator Missing Return Home Interview Training Contact Jahsynth.ramsay@walthamforest.gov.uk

Heather Flinders – Director for Childrens Social Care Closing Summary and Networking