Comment: new school attendance data

Commenting on new school attendance data Jenny Coles, ADCS President, said:

“Data published yesterday by the Department for Education shows how many children and teachers attended education settings in the four weeks after the government announced schools would close for all children, apart from for our most vulnerable pupils and children of key workers.

“The data does show pupil attendance has gradually fallen from over 3% on 23 March to just under 1% on 6 April, it is encouraging to see that although pupil attendance was at its lowest during the Easter holidays there has been a very slight upturn in vulnerable children attending schools. However, it is clearly still a concern for us that not all children who are eligible are benefiting from attending school.

“Information for parents and carers which can be found on the DfE’s website states that vulnerable children who have a social worker are “expected to attend school”, unless they have underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk than others. The Secretary of State also made clear in his speech over the weekend that schools remain open for them and children of key workers. Local authorities and schools will continue to work with families to encourage children to attend where they are entitled to. Social workers are in touch with families directly so we hope to see numbers increase with time.”

ENDS

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