Salford City Council is launching its ambitious school attendance strategy today with the aim of offering help and support to children in the city so they attend, enjoy and achieve at school.
The 2024-26 strategy has been developed over the past year as work has been carried out to try to understand the issues with school attendance and how to overcome them.
The council will run another Miss School Miss Out marketing campaign alongside the work with schools, to encourage parents and children to see all the benefits of being at school and the disadvantages for their present and future lives if they don’t attend.
Councillor Jim Cammell, Lead Member for Children’s and Young People’s Services, said: “We know most children really enjoy school, and we are working hard with our school partners to ensure all children have the best possible experiences and outcomes. Evidence shows that securing excellent attendance at school is key to ensuring positive outcomes for children and young people.
“Missing lessons leaves students vulnerable to falling behind, creating gaps in their learning, and diminishing their self-confidence. We want to continue to work in partnership with all agencies to achieve our ambitious goals ensure our families and our schools get the right support they need to keep daily attendance at school a priority for all.
“The aim of this strategy is to build on our existing partnership arrangements, to work together from the earliest opportunities to help parents/carers support their children to get the most from their education, secure in the knowledge that their child is understood and well supported.”
Rates of overall attendance in Salford are lower compared to national over time. For all types of settings, the attendance rates are markedly lower since the pandemic compared to beforehand, mirroring national trends and the gap compared to national rates is greater in secondary compared to primary.
Together with schools, the council is identifying any children or young people who are not attending school, or other appropriate education, regularly. The aim is to ensure all staff know what to do to support families, and whether and who and how to refer them on to appropriate support.
This will enable a wide range of children’s and young people’s services to be able to identify school attendance issues and work collaboratively to resolve them. Information is being provided on clear expected interventions for schools, support from the council’s attendance team and targeted early help service support.
When there are specific problems with attendance, the council and schools will work closely to support families and children.
