Scrutiny Report Reducing Persistent Absence What is Persistent

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

Y 1 attendance lower in almost every Primary school Year 1 Year 2 % of pupils <80% = Persistent Absentee % of pupils <90%= on average, one grade or level lost from FFTD 3. 59 2. 62 21. 12 16. 58

Key Stage 1. (Level 2+) 2004 2005 2006 2007 LA 81 80 81 78 Nat. 85 85 84 84 LA 78 79 78 75 Nat. 82 82 81 80 LA 88 87 87 84 Nat. 90 90 Reading Writing Maths

Y 1 attendance lower in almost every Primary school Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 % of pupils <80% = Persistent Absentee % of pupils <90%= on average, one grade or level lost from FFTD 3. 59 2. 62 1. 92 2. 37 3. 05 2. 78 21. 12 16. 58 16. 31 16. 80 16. 38 14. 66

Key Stage 2: Level 5 + 2004 2005 2006 2007 LA 73 75 74 78 Nat. 78 78 79 80 LA 72 71 72 76 Nat. 74 74 76 77 LA 85 83 84 86 Nat. 86 86 87 88 English Maths Science APS

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 <80% 3. 59 2. 62 1. 92 2. 37 3. 05 <90% 21. 12 16. 58 16. 31 16. 80 16. 38 Year 6 Year 7 (LA) Year 8 (LA) Year 9 (LA) 2. 78 6. 02 8. 10 12. 33 14. 66 25. 93 28. 73 33. 24

Level 5+ English 2004 2005 2006 2007 LA 58 64 63 61 National 71 74 72 74 LA 63 65 72 67 National 73 74 77 76 LA 54 57 61 60 Level 6+ English 2004 2005 2006 2007 National 66 70 72 73 LA 23 28 27 18 National 34 35 34 32 LA 39 41 49 47 National 52 53 57 56 LA 21 27 29 31 National 34 37 41 41 Maths Science

Absence of potential Level 5+ Pupils for KS 3 SAT’s Absent Science Maths Absent English Cohort % absent Science Maths English Sch A 6 6 8 268 2. 24 2. 99 Sch B 1 6 3 132 0. 76 4. 55 2. 27 Sch C 4 4 2 192 2. 08 1. 04 Sch D 5 3 6 152 3. 29 1. 97 3. 95 Sch E 2 4 5 150 1. 33 2. 67 3. 33 Sch F 4 3 8 188 2. 13 1. 60 4. 26 Total (80) 6% 22 26 32

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 <80% 3. 59 2. 62 1. 92 2. 37 3. 05 <90% 21. 12 16. 58 16. 31 16. 80 16. 38 Year 6 Year 7 (LA) Year 8 (LA) Year 9 (LA) Year 10 (LA) Year 11 (LA) 2. 78 6. 02 8. 10 12. 33 13. 23 15. 28 14. 66 25. 93 28. 73 33. 24 34. 72 37. 69

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 Garth 6. 03% 13. 22% 18. 68% 26. 44% (2. 27%) Kings Manor 4. 29% 9. 21% 14. 14% 21. 47% (2. 22%) Ormesby 3. 45% 7. 79% 13. 19% 22. 06% (2. 43%) St David’s 1. 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 Absentees 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 Hall Garth 164 (22. 1%) 116 (16. 8%) 80 (13. 9%) Kings Manor 171 (17. 1%) 117 (12. 2%) 87 (9. 6%) Ormesby (<10%) 69 (8. 0%) 61 (7. 4%) Acklam Grange 156 (11. 3%) 110 (8. 1%) 81 (6. 1%) The Newlands 140 (21. 0%) 72 (10. 7%) 50 (7. 5%) St David’s 110 (12. 0%) 79 (8. 1%) 77 (8. 0%) M’bro Total 765 (13. 4%) 563 (10. 4%) 434 (8. 3%)

Breakdown of PA Pupils by Year Group and Gender Y 7 Y 8 Y 9 Y 10 Y 11 MALE FEMALE 9 16 15 17 24 42 39 5 7 14 23 31 41 39 King’s Manor 16 12 16 26 17 40 47 Ormesby 5 8 10 18 20 31 30 St David’s 6 12 13 22 24 25 52 The Newlands 5 8 14 12 9 14 34 LA Total 46 63 82 118 125 193 241 Acklam Grange Hall Garth

Postcode Number of pupils Average % attendance Number of PA’s % PA’s TS 1 2 32 89. 09 7 21. 87 TS 1 3 192 88. 93 28 14. 53 TS 1 4 406 86. 99 90 22. 16 TS 1 5 48 86. 6 9 18. 75 TS 2 1 8 84. 35 2 25. 00 TS 3 6 74 86. 16 16 21. 62 TS 3 7 178 88. 73 28 15. 73 TS 3 8 117 89. 06 20 17. 09 TS 3 9 372 90. 45 42 11. 29 TS 3 0 254 92. 40 15 5. 90 TS 4 2 442 89. 18 59 13. 34 TS 4 3 473 88. 43 64 13. 53 TS 5 4 389 88. 30 65 16. 70 TS 5 5 314 93. 19 12 3. 82 TS 5 6 327 92. 07 23 7. 03 TS 5 7 342 93. 14 22 6. 43 TS 5 8 590 93. 66 21 3. 55 TS 6 0 16 91. 31 1 6. 25 TS 7 8 59 93. 06 4 6. 77 TS 7 9 200 91. 25 21 10. 5 TS 7 0 14 95. 85 1 7. 14 TS 8 9 307 89. 72 40 13. 02 TS 8 0 122 91. 67 10 8. 19 TS 17 56 89. 20 9 16. 07 All 5396 90. 46 612 11. 34

%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