Despite the challenges, there is much that schools can do to break down the barriers to attendance faced by the families and ensure that all previously looked after children have an equal chance in education, writes Rebecca Brooks.
Concerns around school attendance and persistent absence are high on the education agenda, but the reality is that some groups of children—including those living with economic disadvantage, those with SEND and looked after children—have long faced significant barriers to attendance which have only been exacerbated by the pandemic and its continuing legacy.
The national attendance data available in England shows that there is another group of children who are disproportionately impacted by barriers to attendance—previously looked after children, including those who are adopted or living in kinship care arrangements.
Most of these children will have experienced significant adverse early experiences. A growing body of neuroscientific research evidences the potential negative impacts of early life trauma on children’s development, including their executive functioning, ability to navigate relationships and self-regulation skills—all of which are essential for learning.Compounding this, chaotic early lives and moves around the care system result in their learning and developmental needs being overlooked, leading to delayed diagnosis and support. Previously looked after children are more than twice as likely as their peers to have SEND and much more likely to have social, emotional and mental health needs (SEMH) as their primary area of need. They are more likely to be excluded from school than their non-care-experienced peers and more than twice as likely to be suspended.
All these factors can combine to make school a challenging place to be. Two in five adopted children missed school due to concerns about their mental health or wellbeing in 2023, and one in six missed five or more days for this reason.
Much of the rhetoric around improving attendance focuses on messaging about the importance of being in school to children’s learning and future life chances. Yet analysis of the national data suggests that the barriers faced by many adopted and kinship children are not a result of poor engagement with education or lack of motivation to attend school. In fact, previously looked after children are less likely to be absent due to illness or holidays than their peers and they are less likely to take unauthorised absences.
Where attendance becomes a problem for these children, it is too often a result of insufficient resourcing to meet their complex needs. As Carol, an adoptive parent explained, “Our son is now 15 and diagnosed with ADHD, autism, anxiety and FASD. He has had an EHCP since he was seven. He hasn’t been full time in school since a short spell in year 3… This makes us angry and sad as with the right support and if the provision on his EHCP was consistently delivered, he could really flourish.”
Carol’s experiences are not unique. As many as 17% of adopted children were attending school on a part time basis in 2023 and DfE data suggests that at secondary school, previously looked after children are twice as likely to be absent for ‘other’ authorised reasons as their peers—’other’ includes agreed part time attendance.The data reveals what many in education already know: that the ‘attendance crisis’ for these children, and for many others, is not a simple problem with a simple solution. If we are to support more children to be in school more often, then we will need to shift the narrative to see poor attendance as a symptom, and focus on removing barriers to attendance much earlier, long before children appear in persistent absence statistics.
Early identification of needs
Chaotic early lives and moves around the care system can mean that opportunities to identify and support children’s developmental and learning needs are frequently missed. Care experienced children are more likely to have SEND than their peers but wait longer for these needs to be identified. Ensuring that looked after and previously looked after children are fast-tracked for assessments and interventions will redress this balance, meaning that support is put in place earlier to help prevent crises from developing.
Consistent adults
Having experienced so much upheaval and disruption in their lives, many care-experienced children benefit from consistent adults in school who stay with them from year to year, getting to know them and forming essential, safe secondary attachment relationships. This need is likely to last well into secondary education, so planning for a key person to meet and greet positively at the start of the school day and check in with the child frequently can lay strong foundations for maintaining attendance even if children are facing challenges.
Careful management of transitions
Where families are facing severe barriers to school attendance, they frequently note that the issues appeared to begin, or to worsen, after a significant transition. This is especially true of the transition from early years provision to more formal learning in primary school, and at the move to secondary school. Transition planning should begin well ahead of time and include securing any additional support that the child might need in advance so that the provision is ready once the child begins their new class or school.
Positive messaging around attendance
DfE attendance data shows that previously looked after children are more likely to miss school due to essential medical and dental appointments than their peers. A legacy of trauma and, for most adopted children, neglect and abuse, together with a high prevalence of SEND means they may be attending hospital appointments, CAMHS appointments and therapeutic appointments which cannot be arranged outside of office hours. These absences are authorised by the school and yet some parents report still receiving automated messages and letters expressing concern at low attendance. Messaging that warns of dire consequences of missing even a day of school only adds to the anxieties of children and parents who simply cannot meet attendance targets through no fault of their own. A more positive approach recognizes the value of supporting children to be physically, mentally and emotionally healthy and avoids penalising families who are taking reasonable steps to ensure this is the case.
Belonging and community
A strong sense of belonging to the school community is a good foundation for both attendance and attainment, becoming even more important as children grow older, yet two thirds of adopted children of secondary school age say they have been teased or bullied because they are adopted. A strong programme of PSHE should include material about foster, adoptive and kinship families and schools should treat bullying related to a child’s care experience as seriously as they would any other targeted bullying. Some children will need extra support to maintain healthy peer relationships and to manage their time in the playground and special care needs to be taken to ensure that children whose attendance is lower are still able to feel connected to the school community.
The attendance crisis is not happening in a vacuum. Schools are struggling to recruit and retain experienced staff. Education welfare services are overwhelmed. Children face long waiting lists for assessments, diagnoses and support, especially in mental health services. Families are struggling with economic challenges and services across health, care and education that are under terrible strain. Children who have had an unequal start in life are most likely to be negatively impacted but, despite the challenges, there is still much that schools can do to break down the barriers to attendance faced by these families and ensure that all previously looked after children have an equal chance in education.
Rebecca Brooks
Rebecca Brooks is Education Policy Advisor, Adoption UK.
Website: adoptionuk.org.uk
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