, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
I’m not inclined to set specific targets for this specific pot of funding. The targets we’re looking at are the ones that, I think, have motivated this committee’s inquiry, which is the overall attendance target and we will want to see what is the most…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
I think the evidence for this is clear both internationally and also already in Wales, where it works well, and I know that there are Members here—. The Chair’s constituency, for example, has very good examples of community-focused schools, and I’m sure other…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
Well, difference isn't always a bad thing, because it can respond to local circumstances, is the first thing to say, but I take the point about the need for a consistent approach. There are, I think, two or three things we can probably do as a Government. One…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
Firstly, we will want to test these messages to see what is most likely to be effective. At the end of the day, that's what we need to make sure we're doing. My assumption, going into that, is that we are likely to find that positive messages about the value…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
Well, some of that is being used at the moment, so we expect that data to be available in September as well. So, that will be part of that overall evaluation, Chair.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
Yes, the funding position is extremely challenging. The funding settlement this year has been very good, but in future years it's looking challenging across all of public services. What we have been able to say is that the funding support for family…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
Anecdotally, if I can qualify it in that way, we know that schools have been using the funding to appoint education support workers quite often, which is around the sorts of interventions we’ve just been talking about—encouraging parents to bring their…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
We’re going to get returns from local authorities for September this year, which will then enable us to do the evaluations. So, when we have that evaluation, obviously, I’d be very happy to share that with the committee, if you were to find that helpful.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
I think the challenge has changed, hasn’t it? Because the context in which pupils are not attending is different from pre-pandemic. I'll defer to him on whether there was a broad consensus—I'm sure there will have been. The question now, and what’s motivating…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
I would say to them what I’ve just said earlier, which is that they’re used only in the most extreme cases. I would regard them as being unfair if they were the first port of call, but that will be a failure of the system, if that’s what’s happening. There is…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
Well, just to say, on the review, I am not doing a specific review of fixed-penalty notices. We will look at fixed-penalty notices in the context of the broader review of the all-Wales attendance framework, but I think it's really important to do it in that…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
Yes, I saw that evidence. I think there is a range of roles, if you like, for timetabling and solving some of the challenges that we're looking at today. I think they can be, when deployed properly, an effective tool for encouraging some learners to return to…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
Yes, sorry, that was the second point; I didn't reach that second point. Apologies for that. Certainly, we do that. The relationship that we have with the OECD is one that is very fruitful. It allows us to have those international comparisons, and to see what…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
There are two very important points there. The first point is that, in terms of legislation and scrutiny and creating policy, there is a temptation to look at these things separately. But, in school life, you experience these things all at the same time, and…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
It's a threshold, if you will. I think I'm right in saying that, at present, we have the highest threshold in terms of attendance expectations before the range of further interventions come into play. So, in terms of the educational welfare service and so on…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
The general impression from Meilyr Rowlands's report was that generally the range of policy interventions were in the right place, on the whole. There were some specific questions in terms of persistent absence. We are, of course, looking at that. But the…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
We've committed to doing this, to look at a strategic way of undertaking digital learning—I don't know what the Welsh word for 'blended' is, but blended learning. So, there are a range of elements associated with that. Ensuring the new curriculum, and the…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
I should have expected that question, following on from the response I've just given. There was one proposal that we undertake a specific review of the fixed-penalty notices. My personal view is that we have to look at this in a holistic manner. So, I don't…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
Well, I think all I've said so far suggests I don't think that is, obviously, the right way of proceeding, and there is a range of ways in which we are supporting schools and parents to bring their children back into school. So, the report that Meilyr…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
Well, I think, if you accept that this is a long-term challenge, it seems unlikely to be the case that the implementation of the reforms that started in September of last year is likely to be the key driver, but it's absolutely important to maintain the trust…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
Yes, that's entirely—. That's what I was just referring to, in fact, so sorry if that wasn't clear. So, we are looking at regulations that will provide strengthened statutory guidance, and local authorities will be able to rely on that.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
But obviously that will be available, and that provides a detailed breakdown of learners who are home educated, which will be helpful. Obviously, it’s anonymised, clearly. And that will be helpful, I think, for the committee’s future considerations, perhaps…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
Yes, the work that Data Cymru’s doing for us, which—. I don’t know the publication date for that. I’ll look to Sian. I don’t know if you know, Sian.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
Yes, it’s a system-wide approach, certainly. I completely see that. So, in terms of support for those families where the parents have chosen to home educate, we have, I think, in Wales already the most generous package of support that is available to home…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Pupil absence—evidence session 7
Yes, I absolutely have a concern about it. We've commissioned Data Cymru to analyse the returns that we get each year from local authorities. The detailed breakdown of that is imminent, but the top line of it, if I can put it like that, is that the three most…
