Help with school attendance (Education safeguarding)

Sometimes children and young people struggle to attend school, this can be for a number of reasons.

Schools in Kirklees are responsible for handling attendance issues, some of them do this by using a Kirklees service called "The Education Safeguarding service".

In order to get support from this service, the school has to have something called a "Service Level Agreement" with the Education Safeguarding service.  You will need to speak with your school to find out if they use this service.

What does this service offer?

This service provides a specialist team of qualified and experienced practitioners who work in partnership with internal and external organisations to improve attendance and reduce persistent absence.  They understand that every school and academy is unique with varied needs, therefore they can offer a tailored service specific to each school.

Education Welfare Support

They offer a comprehensive casework service to individual pupils and families to identify and address attendance barriers.  They will conduct thorough assessments of the children/families in question to identify reasons for non-attendance. Their experienced practitioners can offer a strong and constructive challenge to parents who are not fulfilling their parental responsibilities for their child’s education.

Attendance Assessment

They will provide consultation on your current attendance policies, procedures and practices to identify strengths and areas for development. Offer advice and guidance to school to improve overall attendance, share best practices on ways to reduce the level of absences during term time, tackle trivial illnesses and persistent absences.

Legal Proceedings Support

They can provide advice on legal proceedings, prepare witness statements, reports and gather appropriate evidence for court action. They can prepare ‘parental contracts’ were necessary to focus the actions of the parents, school and attendance practitioner to improve attendance.

Safe & Well Visits

They will support attendance throughout the year specifically during school holidays and the start of a new school year, and act as an independent intermediary to safeguard and manage the home/school relationship.