Why school attendance must be a priority for every service and professional working with children
As we approach the end of the Easter holidays and look ahead to another school term, my thoughts turn once again to the children for whom attending school is a challenge. For some, returning to school can be daunting. In my research as Children’s Commissioner, I have explored the impact of missing even the first few […]
Do schools’ worries about attendance match the reality of pupil attendance? Findings from the Children’s Commissioner’s School Census.
For as long as I have been Children’s Commissioner, I have been talking about school attendance. This is because attendance is not a ‘nice to have’. It supersedes everything else because, as I made clear in The Children’s Plan,i even the most well-executed and evidence-based pedagogy the teaching profession has to offer is no use […]
Why attendance remains my priority
Children understand the importance of being at school. Thousands of the children I have spoken to in my four years as Children’s Commissioner have told me about the value of their teachers, the things they like studying and the things they want to do after school. In my first major survey as Commissioner, The Big […]
New figures reveal drop in number of school absences, but attendance must remain top priority
As Children’s Commissioner, I am deeply concerned about the endemic levels of school absence which means that thousands of children are missing out on their right to education. The latest statistics from the Department for Education, show that 20.1% of children were persistently absent in Autumn 2023. While this is a welcome improvement compared to […]
Tackling the attendance crisis: A service of whole family support practitioners
By Jaine Stannard, School-Home Support CEO During the past few years, we’ve seen how the attendance crisis in the country is getting worse, not better. According to official statistics, 1.8 million children are persistently absent from school. That’s too many children. Too many children that could be left behind if the national attendance crisis is […]
Briefing on school attendance in England
Improving school attendance is an absolute priority for the Children’s Commissioner. Children are offered the best start to further their ambitions, relationships and learning when they are in school. However, despite the importance of being in school, following the pandemic school absence rates have become stuck at crisis levels. Last year, over 1 in 5 […]
The importance of attendance
As the final few days of summer come to a close, it’s time to get ready for the return to school. I know that so much work goes in to make the first week a success. Teachers are completing inset days, parents are buying pencil cases, and children up and down the country are rushing […]
New attendance figures for academic year 2021/22
New stats released today show that overall school absence in 2021/22 was 7.6%, higher than around 4-5% in previous years. The share of pupils persistently absent (meaning they missed at least 10% of possible school sessions) was 22.5%, up from 10-11% pre-covid. The share of pupils severely absent (meaning they missed at least 50% of […]
Attendance is everyone’s business
To support the Education Select Committee’s inquiry into children’s absence from school, This report summarises the key findings from my attendance audit.
Attendance goals need to be as ambitious as children are for themselves
I have previously set out that every school should be a school for children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disability (SEND). This means that every school should be able to offer a suitable and supportive learning environment for children with SEND, with some schools specialising in meeting the most complex and acute needs. Research for […]
Education history and attendance
Over the course of this year, I have been relentless in my focus on making sure that everyone understands what children need to thrive, to be happy and healthy. A huge part of that has been investigating children’s attendance at school. I have prioritised attendance because school is where children have told me, overwhelmingly, they […]
A 100% attendance target means no child left behind
This week I am shining a light on the education system and what needs to be done to support children to attend school regularly. I have set an ambitious target for 100% attendance at school because I want to make sure that no child gets left behind or falls out of sight. Achieving this target […]
Archived Content
School attendance since September
In March 2020 schools across England closed for nearly all pupils. Those allowed to attend rarely did, and even a partial re-opening of schools in July saw a peak school attendance of just 17.5%. By the time schools re-opened in September, 575 million days of school had been missed by children in England. The impact […]
School return: Covid-19 and school attendance
Examining school attendance rates during and after lockdown
Roadmap to reopening schools
Policy briefing Ever since last August, the Children’s Commissioner has said “Schools must be the last to close and the first to reopen.” This is now a well-used phrase as parents, teachers, scientists, politicians and the media all recognise the massive impact that the lockdowns are having on children’s education, and even more importantly, on […]
Requesting details on Government plans to minimise learning loss during lockdown and support for reopening of schools
The Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield has today (6th January) sent a letter to the Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson, following the start of the new national lockdown, to request further details on the Government’s plans to minimise learning loss during the national lockdown and support schools to reopen as soon as possible. The […]
Lockdown school closures mean we need to act now to save children’s education and wellbeing
Since the start of the pandemic, I have pushed again and again for schools to be the last to close and the first to open in any lockdown. Yet something that seemed unthinkable only a month ago – a national closure of schools – is now happening as a result of the new, more transmissible […]
Amid the coronavirus uncertainty, millions of children are back in school
Now is a good time to reflect on the progress that has been made as children have returned to school after so many months out of the classroom. Schools, teachers and children themselves have worked so hard to adapt to a new normal, from one-way hallways to staggered drop-offs, from classroom bubbles to shorter lunch […]
Children’s Commissioner warns 420,000 children in England are at risk of eviction unless Government acts
Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, is today warning that hundreds of thousands of children will return to school in two weeks with the threat of housing eviction hanging over their families, unless the Government changes its mind and extends its ban on evictions. Her intervention comes as the Children’s Commissioner’s Office publishes a new […]
Children and schools must come before pubs and shops in planning for future Covid-19 lockdowns
Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, has published a new briefing setting out the key actions needed to ensure children are at the heart of planning for any future coronavirus lockdowns, including making sure all children are back in school in September. The Children’s Commissioner argues that if any local or national lockdown takes place, schools […]
Children’s Commissioner for England creates local area profiles of child vulnerability during Covid-19
Analysis of the extent of child vulnerability around the country, much of which is hidden from sight under lockdown.
How young people are gaining valuable life skills with the police
The relationship between the police and teenagers can be fraught and complex. We often hear from some children that they don’t trust the police. They tell us they feel there is a “them against us” attitude. But at the same time, they also tell us they would like more police visibility to make them feel […]
