Education Welfare Service

Improving attendance is everyone's business. The barriers to accessing education are wide and complex, both within and beyond the school gates, and are often specific to individual pupils and families.

Good attendance begins with school being somewhere pupils want to be and therefore the foundation of securing good attendance is that school is a calm, orderly, safe, and supportive environment where all pupils are keen and ready to learn.

For some children, attending school every day will be harder than for others. Many factors can impact on school attendance including minor ailments, more serious medical conditions, SEND needs, undiagnosed needs, mental health, bullying, cost of living pressures, etc.

These factors can all add to additional challenges to attending school and require a supportive approach. This is why schools, and St Helens Council are committed to working together with families to remove barriers and support your child's attendance.

The statutory DfE guidance Working together to improve school attendance (GOV.UK) sets out positive expectations for maintained schools, academies, independent schools, and local authorities to support you.

Education Welfare Service provides help, advice and support to schools and families experiencing school attendance related difficulties. We hold the statutory responsibility for the following areas of work:

• Elective Home Educated
• Children Missing Education
• Not In Receipt of Full Time Education 
• Child employment and performance licences
• Chaperone licences
• Legal sanctions relating to school attendance, including Penalty Notices and Prosecutions, under section 4441 4441A of the Education Act 1996

• Working in partnership with schools to develop strategies to raise school attendance and reduce persistent absence.
• Providing advice and guidance on all aspects of school attendance issues.
• Completing 12 weeks of fast-track interventions including the use of parenting contracts on school attendance referrals
• Developing mediation partnerships between home and school
• Facilitating case conferences
• Creating paperwork around school attendance for all schools to use.
• Providing training on Penalty Notices and other school related functions
• Using statistical analysis and data as a means of targeting resources and identifying specific school related issues
• Having a dedicated specialist Education Welfare Officer, working as part of the MASH team
• Having a dedicated specialist Education Welfare Officer working as part of the Virtual School
• Termly one to one meetings with Head Teachers or Attendance Leads
• Termly Cluster Attendance Meetings to disseminate key information about attendance issues 

• Conducting home visits to help parents/carers to remove the barriers creating school attendance issues
• Working directly with pupils to solve difficulties affecting their rights and responsibilities within the education law
• Supporting families when transferring schools
• Helping parents to understand their rights and responsibilities within the education law. This includes Elective Home Education (EHE) 
• Acting as a link between home and school when communication has broken down
• Providing a link with other agencies on behalf of families
• Providing information on education otherwise than at school

However, persistent failure in ensuring your child attends school regularly can lead to prosecution.