Teach Secondary 13.5

A t the Mossbourne Federation, attendance goes hand-in-hand with high expectations. We're clear about those expectations, and regularly communicate the standards we want to see to our pupils and their parents. But this does come with challenges. It's important to understand how there’s a marked difference between an absent child who simply can’t be bothered to show up through laziness, versus a child having to contend with genuine issues at home that present legitimate cause for concern. This latter group are the children we need to be alert to, which tools like the teaching improvement platformProgressTeaching can help us identify. Real challenges As educators, our job is to cut through the noise and hone in on those students who need our support the most. A lot of schools will get wrapped up in the noise – by which I mean scenarios like the following: “Sarah feels bad, because Jonny said something mean to her in the playground, so Sarah should be out of lessons.” No! I’ll be blunt here and say that these types of encounters may be unpleasant, but are an inevitable part of life. We facilitate the noise by allowing the ABOUT THE AUTHOR Peter Hughes is the CEO of the Mossbourne Federation trust and a trustee of the headteacher-led charity, The Elephant Group; for more information, visit mossbourne.org Cut through the noise Peter Hughes explains how a core component of the Mossberg Federation trust’s attendance strategy involves boosting the visibility of those students with the greatest levels of need... noise to become our reality. Pupils need to understand that someone else saying something that upsets them, or makes them angry doesn’t mean they themselves can’t get on with their studies. Contrasted to that might be the genuine problems experienced by a student whose parents both have mental health issues – which could conceivably cause the student to be affected by further mental health issues in turn, thus impeding their access to school. They’re facing real challenges that they need help with. Lost in the system The act of merely feeding into the noise gives rise to two fundamental issues: 1. We risk telling children that certain issues are worse than they actually are A small child falls over and scratches their leg, which prompts them to cry their eyes out – but they’re not critically hurt. They’re crying because they’re shocked at what they’ve just done. So we comfort them, tell them that everything’s okay and put a plaster on the affected area, if needed. By this point, the child will more than likely be happy once again and ready to carry on with their day. If, however, we turn round and proceed to make a big deal out of the situation, we can end up merely reinforcing ‘the noise’ and worsening the situation yet further. As adults and educators, we must show our children how to process life events, and how to distinguish between those ‘big deal’ developments and comparatively minor incidents of unpleasantness. 2. The more noise we create as educators, the more likely it is that genuine cases will be missed Children who need our help are getting lost in a system that’s too busy dealing with noise, which is unacceptable. It’s our job to be straightforward, direct and honest with the children and their families or primary carers. As someone who had multiple carers throughout my own schooling, I know first-hand the impact this can have on a child. My older brother was a child who was failed by the system; someone we might refer to today as a ‘young carer’, as he often had to shoulder the responsibility of caring for me and my younger sister. Making a difference If we’re to make a real difference, we should be spending time on understanding those pupils most at risk of falling behind in their education due to an actual inability to make it into school. What’s happening in their lives? What is it they need fromus? What supporting services should we bring in to help? Cutting through the noise has enabled us to consistently maintain an average of 97% attendance across our schools, despite our higher than national average pupil stats for SEN, EAL and PPI. I’m incredibly proud of our team at Mossbourne, and of our pupils for their ongoing commitment to living our core values: • Excellence •No excuses •Unity Together, we strive for the common goal of being the best we can be so that every pupil, teacher and member of staff fulfils their potential – but to make this a reality, pupils need to be in school. 43 teachwire.net/secondary AT T E N D A N C E