A headteacher has shared his wish list of solutions to the massive problems facing schools post pandemic. Martin Hulland, headteacher of Cardiff West Community High School said schools need support to help education and children recover from Covid disruption.
Social, mental heath and economic problems caused by Covid and lockdowns are spilling into schools and risk damaging the future chances of young people, he warned. The effect of high pupil absence, rising mental health problems, deprivation and anti social behaviour have been described by headteachers since the first lockdown in 2020.
The catchment for Mr Hulland's school takes in some of the most disadvantaged areas of Wales. Communities like his have been worse hit than others during the pandemic and in lockdown his staff delivered food and work to children’s doors. This is what headteachers have been saying about the effects of the pandemic
Mr Hulland said urgent action is needed to bring children back to school and support them. he said he supports the Welsh Government's announcement this week that fines are to be re-imposed for parents and carers not sending their children to school. But he fears it could take years to bring attendance across Wales back to pre-pandemic levels and is worried what that means for the future and life chances of children and teenagers.
Children eligible for free school meals across Wales are now more than seven per centage points more likely to miss school than their better off peers. Attendance at Cardiff West Community High, where two in three pupils are eligible for free school meals, is running at around 80%, said Mr Hulland. That’s well below the 91% before the pandemic and 10% below the national average now - although in line with similar schools. Like most schools and most of society Cardiff West Community High is also dealing with rising mental health issues, some very serious.
Mr Hulland points out all schools are facing similar problems to varying degrees and said they need professional help, on site, to deal with some of these issues. Mental health issues among children that his staff are dealing with include suicidal thoughts, self harm, school phobia and isolation.
Headteacher's wishlist
If money was no object Mr Hulland would like his school to have:
- An onsite mental health nurse
- An onsite social worker
- An onsite police officer
- More family engagement staff
- He said having these professionals in school to work directly with children and their families and liaise with other services such as the Child and Adult Mental health Service (CAMHS) would help. Although teachers do more than teach they are not trained mental health or social work professionals.
Mr Hulland believes services like this in schools would help education pandemic recovery, address [pupil absence and social and health problems made worse by lockdowns and Covid.
“It is easy to see how some of the mental health issues can be linked to deprivation. An estimated 25-30% of pupils experience, or have experienced, some issues with mental health. It is a crisis across the board," he said.
“Attendance is a massive issue. It is the single biggest challenge for schools now. If you are going to try to deal with attendance it goes to the heart of social issues like mental health, housing and deprivation.”
Mr Hulland said safeguarding referrals have begun to fall since schools re-opened after the second lockdown, but schools are still worried about where children are, what they are doing and how safe they are when not at school. Anti-social behaviour beyond the school gates has also increased in many parts of Wales since the pandemic began and is seeping into schools, he warned.
He said he was "proud" of the work by parents, pupils and staff, but more support is needed.
“A number of parents would welcome additional support. It’s about increasing contact with the community, inviting parents in and appealing to them to talk to us. Some families are struggling. Low attendance is the result of deep seated social problems that require additional resources which schools cannot deal with alone. This is a period of change and everyone is struggling.
“I would say to parents not sending their children in: schools are safe places . We have worked hard to move forward and want pupils in and to support families. It is very important for students to come to school every day.”
Welcoming the Welsh Government’s “community schools” plan Mr Hulland said schools must be given the funds needed to address all the huge issues made worse by the pandemic and to encourage children and their families to see education as part of the solution.
Thousands of children are missing school across Wales
Latest Welsh Government school attendance data published on May 4 shows:
- Between April 25 and 29 more than 65,000 school sessions were missed by children for both authorised and non-authorised reasons including illness and holiday
- An average of 90.8% of all pupils went to school in the first week of term April 25-29 compared to 87.1% at the end of last term.
- Attendance is lowest in the key exam years. More than one in four A level year 13 pupils are not attending and more than one in 10 GCSE year 11 pupils are absent.
- On April 29 alone 81.5% of children eligible for free school meals attended school compared with 88.9% of their better off classmates. On the same day nearly 18,000 pupils were off in total among them 1,142 (1.2%) of primary pupils and 1,614 (3.5%) of secondary pupils away for known Covid-related reasons. The most common reason for absence is given as illness not Covid.
- Since September 2021 271 children in Wales have missed 40 days or more of school for known Covid related reasons and 31,591 for any other reason.
- A total 88,326 (18%) of children have missed between five and a half and 10 school days since September for known Covid related reasons.
Average all-Wales school attendance by year group April 25-29
- Reception 92.6
- Year 1 93.1
- Year 2 93.4
- Year 3 93.2
- Year 4 93.3
- Year 5 93.1
- Year 6 93.0
- Year 7 91.6
- Year 8 90.3
- Year 9 89.1
- Year 10 88.8
- Year 11 87.1
- Year 12 83.3
- Year 13 73.6
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