Within Northern Ireland, there is currently a public consultation inviting parents/carers and young people to respond individually to the “Attendance Matters” strategy. The aim of this strategy is to support children and young people to attend school every day.
While the core principles of the strategy remain unchanged since the publication of “Miss School. Miss Out” in 2016, the profile and needs of children have changed “with significant numbers presenting with Special Education Needs and Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance.” In response, the attendance strategy has been updated to emphasise the importance of understanding the underlying reasons for pupil absence, promoting relational approaches to learning, and intervening at an early stage.
Given our collective role in supporting foster carers, kinship foster carers, and Step Up Step Down families across Northern Ireland, this consultation is a valuable resource to share. It provides an important opportunity for carers views and experiences to be heard in relation to Children Looked After (CLA) by highlighting the the significant role that foster carers and kinship foster carers play in supporting attendance at school AND raising the need for nurturing, relational and trauma informed support within the school environment for CLA.
Please see links below to the consultation document:
Consultation on a pupil attendance strategy
Consultation survey for adults
Consultation survey for children
