Scrutiny Report Reducing Persistent Absence

What is Persistent Absence? Persistent Absentee – 52 or more sessions missed at the end of half term 4 or 64 or more sessions missed end of half term 5 Equates roughly to 80% attendance Almost 2.25 years of schooling missed <90% attendance - 1 grade drop in external examinations (SATs and/or GCSE) according to government research

The Link between Persistent Absence and Educational Standards

% of pupils <80% = Persistent Absentee % of pupils <90%= on average, one grade or level lost from FFTD Year Year Y1 attendance lower in almost every Primary school

Reading LA Nat Writing LA Nat Maths LA Nat. 90 Key Stage 1. (Level 2+)

% of pupils <80% = Persistent Absentee % of pupils <90%= on average, one grade or level lost from FFTD Year Year Year Year Year Year Y1 attendance lower in almost every Primary school

English LA Nat Maths LA Nat Science LA Nat APS Key Stage 2:Level 5 +

<80%<90% Year Year Year Year Year Year Year 7 (LA) Year 8 (LA) Year 9 (LA)

Level 5+ English LA National Maths LA National Science LA National Level 6+ English LA National Maths LA National Science LA National343741

Absence of potential Level 5+ Pupils for KS3 SAT’s Absent Science Absent Maths Absent English Cohort % absent Science % absent Maths % absent English Sch A Sch B Sch C Sch D Sch E Sch F Total (80) 6%

<80%<90% Year Year Year Year Year Year Year 7 (LA) Year 8 (LA) Year 9 (LA) Year 10 (LA) Year 11 (LA)

School< 65% attendance < 75% attendance < 80% attendance <85% attendance (A*-C impact) Acklam Grange 3.25%7.16%11.00%18.17% (7.77%) Hall Garth6.03%13.22%18.68%26.44% (2.27%) Kings Manor 4.29%9.21%14.14%21.47% (2.22%) Ormesby3.45%7.79%13.19%22.06% (2.43%) St David’s1.34%4.96%9.10%16.02% (2.66%) The Newlands 4.64%8.83%13.62%20.66% (8.33%)

The Number of Persistent Absentees in Middlesbrough Secondary Schools Three Year Trend Data/ Research Data

Persistent Absentees2005/062006/072007/08 Hall Garth164 (22.1%) 116 (16.8%) 80 (13.9%) Kings Manor171 (17.1%) 117 (12.2%) 87 (9.6%) Ormesby(<10%)69 (8.0%) 61 (7.4%) Acklam Grange156 (11.3%) 110 (8.1%) 81 (6.1%) The Newlands140 (21.0%) 72 (10.7%) 50 (7.5%) St David’s110 (12.0%) 79 (8.1%) 77 (8.0%) M’bro Total765 (13.4%) 563 (10.4%) 434 (8.3%)

Y7Y8Y9Y10Y11MALEFEMALE Acklam Grange Hall Garth King’s Manor Ormesby St David’s The Newlands LA Total Breakdown of PA Pupils by Year Group and Gender

PostcodeNumber of pupilsAverage % attendanceNumber of PA’s% PA’s TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS All

%Chance 5+A-C v days absent

Current Actions

Raise the profile of good attendance across the whole town Sustain strategies that have lead to improvement in Secondary Schools Embedd these strategies into Primary community with a target of 90% or higher attendance for almost every pupil, 95% or more for most (based on Sunderland Every Schoolday Counts) Increase the number of agencies promoting good attendance e.g. employers/social partners Achieve the above without schools taking their eye off the standards issue

Progress so far

Support for Campaign Every Schoolday Matters is a campaign developed in partnership by Middlesbrough Council, Middlesbrough Football Club and The Evening Gazette to raise the profile of good attendance and recognise pupils with excellent or rapidly improving attendance.

Support for Campaign Roary the Boro Lion is our attendance mascot at Key Stage 1 (and 2) – lots of assembly visits and incentives to give out to good/improving attendees Annual conference held at MFC Updates provided to Governor’s Forum and at Headteacher Meetings