Last week the Secretary of State for Education, Gillian Keegan, confirmed long-standing rumours that the Schools Bill in its current form will not continue as she met the Education Select Committee for the first time.
However, as expected the minister also confirmed that the government will continue to prioritise some proposals the Bill contained as legislation.
In addition Attendance Guidance also remains in place for England and its effects are proving harsh with little protection for families.
When an Attendance Fine is issued families may face prosecution if they do not pay within 28 days. Penalty Notices for attendance do NOT have right of appeal - giving parents fewer rights than with a parking fine.
For even families who have the law on their side, there is surprisingly little protection.
Often we see parents are forced to pay fines despite their innocence to avoid prosecution.
Without a judge, where is justice? The answer is frequently - nowhere.
The numbers of parent carers joining the Not Fine In School support group are up 70% from this time a year ago - it's clear from too many experiences we're seeing that some schools and local authorities are interpreting Attendance Guidance as they wish and ignoring the parts of it that they see fit (and also laws such as the Equality Act, Disability Act and Children’s and Families Act 2014).
Examples of this include attendance awards that exclude children with disabilities, medical proof requested from children awaiting NHS help, and families fined and prosecuted when actually the local authority should be providing alternative education according to the Education Act.
We watched the Education Select Committee with interest to see if the effects of Attendance Guidance would be discussed.
Attendance was discussed but unfortunately a sanitised version; upbeat talk of attendance "mentors" and encouraging children into school through engagement with holiday clubs. No mention of Attendance Officers who work full time whilst SENCO's are juggling teaching and covering their school for SEND.
Not a mention of fines and prosecutions or the impact Guidance is having on parents.
It seemed the committee spent more time laughing about making risotto in a Chichester forest school than the nightmare that incorrect Attendance Guidance implementation is having on too many families.
Maddie and I continue to help parents individually and raise awareness of the issues that families are facing. Can you help us bring change?
You can help by contacting your MP and asking them to ask a question in the house of commons - or to the Education Select committee - about the impact of fines on families nationally...or contacting the Department of Education to raise your concerns and asking them to give clearer direction to schools and local authorities. You can do this on this online help form:
https://form.education.gov.uk/service/Contact_the_Department_for_Education
We're not asking much - just for the law to be followed and for Attendance Guidance to be implemented correctly.
That's not too much to ask, is it?
Maddie and Susan