Pupil Parliament 25th June 2008 Punctuality and attendance consultation outcome
On 25th June 2008 the Islington Pupil Parliament convened to discuss the issues of attendance and punctuality in our schools. This is what we discovered…
Test your knowledge…
The discussion on attendance and punctuality started with a quiz. The winning team, from Winton and Copenhagen Schools, got 7 out of 10. Would you have done better? Test your knowledge on the questions below… the answers are on page 8. 1. What do you think the NATIONAL average number of days absence each year for a secondary school pupil is? _______ 2. What do you think the average number of days absence each year for a secondary school pupil IN ISLINGTON is? _______ 3. What is the most common cause of absence? _______ 4. … And what is the second most common cause of absence? ____ 5. Nationally, what is the year with the lowest number of absences? Year 4 / 6 / 11? 6. And nationally, what is the year with the highest number of absences? Year 4 / 6 / 11? 7. What percentage of students nationally has no absence due to family holidays? 7% / 49% / 78% 8. In Islington, do you think boys or girls are more likely to be absent? Boys/ girls 9. Nationally, do you think boys or girls are more likely to be absent? Boys/ girls 10. Do you think the numbers of pupils being absent nationally has gone up or down since 2006? Up/ down
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Dear Miss Moan…
For this activity, attendees imagined that they had stopped attending school. They wrote letters to a fictional agony aunt, Miss Moan, telling her why they had stopped attending. This gave us information about why Islington’s children and young people might not attend or why they perceive others might not attend. Here are some of the common- and less common- themes that emerged. Please note that this was a role-play activity and as such, the reasons given are fictional and should not be assumed to come directly from the children’s own experience.
Bullying Of the 54 children and young people at Pupil Parliament, 18 gave bullying as a reason why they thought someone might stop attending school. This represents one third of all those asked. The imagined reasons given included: - general descriptions, such as ‘Some people come and take my stuff’ - to very specific references to racist bullying- ‘People are being racist to me and bullying me’ - and anti-religious bullying- ‘Every day in school I get bullied because of my religion, they push me and hit me’. Interestingly, 5 of the 18 who mentioned bullying referred to it in nonpersonal terms, such as ‘there is bullying’ and ‘people bully other people’.
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Teachers Issues with teachers were given as a reason 19 times, and the issues varied from the generic‘I don’t like all the strict teachers’ - to much more specific problems with individual teachers- ‘because of a teacher that is giving me lots of homework for nothing’. This is especially interesting when viewed against the suggestions that the children and young people later made to help our letter writers (see below).
‘The lessons are boring…’ This was a common refrain, with 12 students (22%) saying that they might not attend because they found an element of school boring. The specific complaints ranged from ‘boring teachers because they dress boring’ to ‘needs comedy’ and ‘teachers don’t know how to make lessons fun’. Interestingly though, a desire to do more appealing activities out of school only appeared as a reason once- ‘there’s better stuff to do at other places’. Just 3 of our fictional letter writers told us that they would miss school because they wished it offered ‘more fun and more football and games and stuff’.
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Other interesting points Tiredness or related issues- ‘the journey is too long’, ‘I have to get up too early’, and ‘I don’t get enough sleep’- appeared 12 times. Concerns about gangs and crime make an appearance, with one reference to gang fears- ‘the gangs are keeping a look out on me, I am very scared to come out’- and one to the journey to school‘you’re afraid that you might get robbed’. We also had 8 references to struggling with work, including ‘I don’t understand the work and I feel sad’ and ‘I am extremely dyslexic’. Despite this reason only being given by 14% of our letter writers, the children and young peoples’ responses, as outlined overleaf, gave it much consideration. Problems with friends, perhaps not surprisingly, was also registered as a reason to miss school, occurring twice and reflecting two angles- both ‘I don’t have any friends’ and, in two cases, ‘my friends argue’. Friends also occurred once in another context- ‘my friends don’t go to school’. And finally, stress due to tests and exam pressure appeared in three of our letters, including ‘I’m tired and I can’t cope’. One said ‘As a year 10 student with exams and coursework it is too stressful’.
Help!
Our letter-writers then changed roles and became Miss Moan, devising answers to the letters using the advice cards provided and their own suggestions. It is interesting to observe which pieces of advice appeared most frequently- and which of the advice cards the children most commonly selected.
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Most used advice cards The students were provided with 6 advice cards with varying suggestions covering rewards, changes they could make or tips for better attendance and punctuality. The card that was most used by the children and young people to answer their agony aunt letters was Card C, which advised: Go into school tomorrow and talk to a teacher about the lessons- they may be able to offer you more support. This was more popular than an alternative suggestion, devised by the young people, to ‘Talk to your mum and dad’, which only appeared 4 times as opposed to Card C’s 17 times. Card C was only a narrow leader, as with 16 appearances Card E was close behind. This card advised seeking motivation: Arrange to meet a friend to walk to school in the morning to motivate you. - and appeared as a piece of advice in response to any number of problems, including bullying, tiredness and struggling with work. The two cards reminding our letter writers of the rewards they could get attracted 12 and 9 uses respectively, coming in behind Cards C and E. The ‘Arsenal match tickets’ reward promise only appeared 3 more times than the ‘free sticker for each day you attend’ reward.
Most common pieces of advice devised by Pupil Parliament The students also devised their own suggestions for advice cards with which to answer the letters to Miss Moan. The top three most popular suggestions are overleaf.
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1. Tell your teacher or just ignore them and carry on being yourself Suggested 9 times, largely in response to bullying-related agony aunt letters. 2. Talk to your mum or dad Suggested 4 times, usually in response to bullying or teacherrelated issues. Appears the same number of times as: 3. You should discuss your situation with a teacher because it’s not good; you should also talk to your friends as they’re there to help you. Other useful pieces of advice to appear included: Be positive about your work Talk to your school council about bullying Ask your school council about having more activities in school.
Top ten tips
The Pupil Parliament reps also created a list of ten tips for good attendance and punctuality. The tips are listed below, or can be downloaded in poster form at: www.islingtonschools.net/Services/si/pupil_parliament_webpage.aspx 1. Go to bed early 2. Organise your uniform and your books and make your packed lunch the night before 3. Don’t watch breakfast TV in the morning! 4. Set your alarm 5. Walk to school with a friend to motivate you 6. Go to breakfast club 7. Keep yourself fit and healthy, including eating well 8. Have a good breakfast in the morning! 9. Get up 15 mins earlier than usual 10. Ask your parents, brothers or sisters or anyone else you live with to wake you up.
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Answers for attendance quiz (page 2) 1. 12 2. 14 3. Illness 4. Holidays 5. Year 6 6. Year 11 7. 7% 8. Boys 9. Girls 10. Down
If you’d like to know more about Pupil Parliament or the discussions on attendance and punctuality you can contact the Pupil Voice and Participation Champion in the Social Inclusion Unit, Cambridge Education @ Islington on 020 7527 5744 or pupil.parliament@islington.gov.uk You can also download the minutes from the meeting and related information from: www.islingtonschools.net/Services/si/ pupil_parliament_webpage.aspx
Many thanks to all of the children and young people that contributed to this Pupil Parliament. The following schools were involved: Ashmount School Copenhagen School Duncombe School Highbury Quadrant School Hungerford School Laycock School Montem School Moreland School Pakeman School Robert Blair School St John’s Upper Holloway School St Luke’s CE School St Mark’s CE School Vittoria School William Tyndale School Winton School Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Language College Holloway School Mount Carmel RC Girls’ School
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