2 weeks Ago By [email protected] (Oliver Pridmore)
Nottingham parents should take some responsibility for the city's school absence rates as a government minister slams the "dangerous" idea of school being optional. The city was chosen as one of 10 areas that will get dedicated government support from next month to improve school absence rates. Nottingham had one of the worst school absence rates in the country when the government project was announced in October 2024, with a rate of 7.
3% compared to a national average of 6.7%. The Local Democracy Reporting Service has also reported that Nottingham's school exclusion rate is now nearly double the national average.
Stephen Morgan, the minister for early education, attended a conference of over 100 East Midlands school leaders at Eastwood Hall on Thursday (March 13) to discuss how school absence should be tackled. Mr Morgan said in a speech at the conference: "It's easy to understand parents who struggle with a child who has severe anxiety. "It's harder to understand parents who feel it's no longer necessary for their child to be in school every day.
All parents have a fundamental responsibility to send their children to school and we will continue to push back against the frankly dangerous idea that going to school is optional." Speaking to Nottinghamshire Live about how much responsibility parents should take for Nottingham's school absence rates, Mr Morgan said: "Parents do have a really important role to play here and I think it's about having a really good relationship between schools and parents. My parents kind of saw it as their responsibility to make sure I was at school on time and regularly and the approach that we're taking is working with parents to encourage that attendance at school.
" In terms of the recent school exclusion rates in particular, Mr Morgan said: "What I'm really keen to do is get to the root cause of some of those exclusions and that's why the interventions around mental health or breakfast clubs and other issues are important. I recognise there's more to do and that's why it's really important to have a strong relationship with local authorities to drive down exclusions." The government's dedicated funding in Nottingham will pay for 'attendance mentors' to provide one to one support for persistently absent pupils, including those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and mental health issues.
Pupils will be supported over a 12 to 20 week period, with their mentor developing a tailored plan to get them back into the classroom. Mr Morgan added: "Nottingham is part of our attendance work and from April will get access to dedicated support around attendance. That's about working with specific schools and specific young people to support them to return to school and hopefully really get to the very heart of some issues and support them with that.
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