Bad Weather & Attendance at School or Work

[All uphill]

Interesting piece on school attendance on LBC this morning with Southwark Schools Head Teachers group spokesperson saying there was a problem with parents not sending / taking kids to school and that threats of fines interventions etc from social services had no effect and also saying problem was getting worse

From my experience the vast majority of parents find they can get their children to school when faced with prosecution.

It requires schools and local authority to work together in a planned and consistent way, and to have the resources needed.

Imo a generation of children is being failed by a system that tolerates poor attendance and normalises it.

 

[AuroraSaab]

It's very disruptive for everyone when kids are off for frequent single days as staff spend class time trying to catch them up. By the time it gets to the prosecution stage much of the damage has been done. It's a sad fact that some parents don't value education.

 

[spen666]

....

Imo a generation of children is being failed by a system that tolerates poor attendance and normalises it.

Imo a generation of children is being failed by their parents who tolerate poor attendance and normalise it.

Let's remember it's the parents duty to send their children to school

 

[Rusty Nails]

Imo a generation of children is being failed by their parents who tolerate poor attendance and normalise it.

Let's remember it's the parents duty to send their children to school

I blame the grandparents and parents of these bad parents who clearly didn't instil the right standards in them.

 

[Bromptonaut]

Let's remember it's the parents duty to send their children to school

In theory no doubt but if your 14yo is a school refuser how do you force him in every day?

One reason we have a generation of parents and kids who don't value education is that education doesn't value them.

By them I mean those who cannot achieve academically. By the time they're 11 all too many been multiply labelled as failures. It's no surprise when another seven years of the same is declined.

It's not universal. It can be addressed and in some places it is addressed very successfully. But when Ministers, and Gove was a serial offender here, try to make schools like the ones they shone in we're screwed.

 

[All uphill]

Imo a generation of children is being failed by their parents who tolerate poor attendance and normalise it.

Let's remember it's the parents duty to send their children to school

And it requires a well- functioning system to encourage and enforce the right children have to a satisfactory education.

 

[icowden]

Let's remember it's the parents duty to send their children to school

And in Primary School this is usually well managed. The average attendance numbers for primary are 276 pupils as opposed to 1000+ for secondary. In the case of Sara Sharif, she was withdrawn from Primary School and home schooled. There are no legal requirements or forms to fill in to home school a child. *If* she was known to her Primary School as a child protection risk, then there should have been engagement from Social Services etc who could have prevented her being withdrawn. Otherwise there is no protection, no statutory inspection or checks.

Once you get to secondary, suddenly you are moving from 2 or 3 classes per year to 7 to 10 classes per year. Most staff stop knowing each individual child. Class sizes are 30+. It's much easier for pupils to disengage, not attend school or otherwise remain off the radar.

This is where we should be learning from Private Schools who typically have class sizes of 20 and limited numbers. If it's all about money, why would they do that? Quite simply because it allows them to get the best results for their pupils.

 

[fozy tornip]

Do you know any other tunes?

 

[Rusty Nails]

If it's all about money, why would they do that? Quite simply because it allows them to get the best results for their pupils.

They do that because they know that that is what people who can afford it want. If they had bigger classes they would not get the same results and the only people who would pay to send their kids there would be those who value the status and the old-boy network rather than the quality.

Of course it's all about the money in both the private and state sectors and money really does help the quality.

 

[spen666]

In theory no doubt but if your 14yo is a school refuser how do you force him in every day?

. ...

That situation usually arises because parents have failed before then to instill into their children the need to attend school.


By time child is say 15 or 16, it's too late to try to install values you should have been teaching a decade earlier

 

[monkers]

Let's remember it's the parents duty to send their children to school

Actually it isn't.

There is a duty on parents to ensure their children are educated. The duty is on the schools to provide good quality education to those children that attend.

Parents are perfectly entitled to choose to educate their children themselves.

 

[Bromptonaut]

That situation usually arises because parents have failed before then to instill into their children the need to attend school.

That may be where we diverge.

While you're correct in principle I worry that the system lets kids down so that, by 11, if SATS etc are poor they're convinced they've failed

 

[monkers]

That situation usually arises because parents have failed before then to instill into their children the need to attend school.


By time child is say 15 or 16, it's too late to try to install values you should have been teaching a decade earlier

My advice here is that it is better to stick to what you know.

 

[icowden]

That situation usually arises because parents have failed before then to instill into their children the need to attend school.
By time child is say 15 or 16, it's too late to try to install values you should have been teaching a decade earlier

And frequently usually those children live with parents who themselves failed to attend school, as did their parents before them. School sees children more than parents do.

 

[Bromptonaut]

And frequently usually those children live with parents who themselves failed to attend school, as did their parents before them. School sees children more than parents do.

Not saying that failure to value education isn't a trait that runs through generations but we need to understand why things are that way.