Tracking down kids who aren't in class...
KNOCKING.
..school and council staff are knocking on doors.
So, she should be back in school today, yes?
Good morning, Year 7, this side.
Your child has not returned to college today.
Good morning, good morning.
Driving up attendance after the pandemic disruption
is a priority for the school system.
Hi, it's Horizon Attendance.
We absolutely need them back in school.
It's got to be a priority.
It's got to be a top priority.
We've been following three teenagers this summer -
as they battle to get back to school regularly.
School definitely isn't suitable for everybody.
There was always something like kicking off like you couldn't
go, like, a week without something going off.
Some people went, like, lost their brain in the lockdown -
like I think I kind of did, too.
Multiple teachers have said that, you know, I'm always smiling,
so, it's kind of like, yeah, I'm not always smiling.
It's not always how I feel.
This year, while her friends were in school,
13-year-old Abbie wasn't.
She hasn't attended since January.
It gradually started getting harder and harder for me to go into school.
It's kind of like, "Why can't I just be like everyone else?"
Abbie has ADHD and is autistic.
She's more sensitive to sound and touch than other teenagers.
Major changes can be especially hard to handle.
She started secondary school during the pandemic.
She struggled to cope when things went back to normal
after the Covid restrictions eased.
I started to find it really challenging because it was all these
different sensory things that were all of these people
talking, it was really noisy.
NOISES ECHOING
I mean, there were a lot of things that would stress me out at school.
I'd be getting to sleep at maybe 3am, 3am to 4am.
But I think I was just thinking about everything.
Abbie's school did all it could,
but coping with a busy environment became too much for her.
She was diagnosed with autistic burnout.
I want to be in school.
I want to learn in school because I find it easier to focus
in school, in a school environment.
I just wanted to be able to do that because everyone else could.
For Abbie, it's additional needs, but for other children,
it could be problems at home or trouble at school.
In the autumn term last year, almost 1.7 million children
missed seven days of school or more.
Even allowing for some Covid disruption,
that's significantly higher than before the pandemic.
As the BBC's Education Editor, I've been reporting on the challenges
faced by schools in England since the outbreak of Covid.
Congratulations, again, it is just so nice to see a happy face.
During the lockdowns, schools across the UK were closed
to most children.
Now, there's a big push to get them all back.
The Children's Commissioner
protects and promotes the rights of children in England.
I really think the Prime Minister...
The Prime Minister needs to make this one of her top priorities.
Getting our children back to school and thriving
and succeeding and achieving, it's got to be a top priority.
You've talked about an ambition for 100% attendance this term -
something that's never been achieved.
Why set the bar so high?
Who would we leave out, Branwen? Who would we leave out?
Some are trying to deal with problems beyond their control.
Head of year, Luke Kirkham, is waiting.
Head of year Luke Kirkham is waiting.
Quite surprised he was this late now, honestly.
It's not a regular occurrence for Bradley to be late to school.
15-year-old Bradley is in a hurry to make it to class.
He's running late.
Bradley's been working hard to attend school regularly
since his dad died a year ago.
Even the days he did come in, he did force himself to come in.
You could clearly tell that he had some like mental barrier resistance,
he climbed the mountain of getting out the door and getting to school.
And he was just not engaged and he didn't want to be there.
Last year was, like, it was a horrible year for me anyway.
I dunno about anyone else, but for me, it was...
I was just finding different ways to obviously cope
with my grief over my dad.
WHISTLE BLOWS.
Off we go, please.
At Horizon Community College, pushing up attendance means tackling
students and parents directly.
The bar has been set high this year, you know, we have got a mantra
that every child attends school.
You know, 100% attendance shouldn't be out of the realms
of possibility for children.
Hi, it's Horizon Attendance, I'm just letting you know
that your son has not arrived as yet.
Is he on his way?
We haven't got your daughter in school as yet,
should she be on her way?
Your child has not returned to college today.
The college takes immediate action as soon as it knows
a child hasn't made it to class.
She was in yesterday, however not in today.
So, I have a team that straight away can pull those registers
within minutes and start to see who's in, who's not.
We know some of the children that we need to look for
straight away and start making those calls
or actually go out on to home visits.
It's just there.
They're visiting the home of a teenage girl
who they expected to be in class this morning.
Hello.
In terms of returning back to school, do you think
she'll be back in tomorrow?
Yes, she will.
She did want to come today because she was so looking forward
to trying Business and her options. But we do need her back in tomorrow.
She'll be back. Bless her.
And she was back in school the next day.
Careful, watch your fingers. Watch your fingers!
Once she's helped her brother with breakfast,
16 year-old Mollie will be off to school.
Her attendance record shows she missed
almost a quarter of the year.
She's only going in this morning because she's doing a GCSE exam.
There's constantly a battle with school.
I'm always on the phone, or there's something,
she's coming home, there's a problem.
Mollie's relationship with school has almost completely broken down.
Message me when you're done, let me know how you get on.
She was often in trouble, sometimes with students,
sometimes with staff.
Mollie was repeatedly sent out of class, sent home
and told to study there.
But her mum says she was being bullied.
Mollie says the school didn't manage the situation well
and wanted to get rid of her.
There was always something, like, kicking off.
Like, you couldn't go, like, a week without something going.
Like, how everything was like kind of like ignored so anything
that was, like, an actual problem would be, like, ignored
and then it was easier to, like, send someone home
than deal with it.
An Ofsted report published in September has rated
the school inadequate.
It says behaviour and bullying is poorly managed and too many
pupils are persistently absent.
From the start to the finish, it's just been an absolute mess.
She had a few bullying issues.
And as much as I was going to school for support with that,
I was kind of getting nowhere.
GCSE year's massive, anyway.
The pressure that it was bringing home, it was continuous.
And you could kind of see the breakdown of Mollie.
The Holgate Academy won't comment on individual cases and says it
deals with any disruptive behaviour in line with school policy.
It says bullying is not tolerated in any form and its staff
try to support all students in any kind of difficulty.
Obviously, I know where I went wrong.
Like, I admit when I've done stuff wrong, but then I can also see,
like, where school did wrong or they'll help, like, one kid out
but won't help the other out.
The Government expects pupils to be taught in school
as much as possible.
Is there ever any justification for poor behaviour being used
to not support someone?
The simple answer is no.
The intervention and the support for the child really needs to go
in to find out what is actually going on there.
Um, you know, children need to be in school.
Over the last year, Bradley's been trying to get himself back on track.
Having hardly been in after his dad's death,
he's been making it in almost every day.
Bradley's school is doing everything it can
to help him in the classroom.
Teachers let him use a timeout card.
He can use it a few times a day at any point in class
when it feels too much for him.
A member of staff can just see this and give a nod.
And that student could quietly slip away before any further anxiety
builds or any stress about what they were doing.
They just mostly live around us everywhere...
But it doesn't always work out like that.
Miss, Miss, Miss, can I go toilet?
Are you taking your timeout?
Yeah and then use the toilet.
OK, Bradley, for the last five minutes!?
I need to use the toilet!
It's either that or you just let me go.
That's all right.
People think that I'm actually using it to stay out of class.
And sometimes I actually do...
Like, sometimes I feel like I should like...
I don't want to go to class, but there is definitely times
where I use it because I've got stuff on my mind that I'm trying
to forget about.
So, your dad might come into your mind or your grief
might come into your mind at that moment in class?
Yeah.
It's not been without challenges itself,
the introduction of this card and the use of it.
But, overall, we've seen a direct improvement in attendance
and attainment and punctuality to just lessons.
Without those timeout cards, without that escape valve
for Bradley, do you think he would actually be
turning up to school every day?
It's certainly less likely, I would imagine that his attendance
would be a lot lower than it currently is,
which is in a very good place.
First game on pitch one over here will be STMM
against Harris Mordant.
Bradley's also been supported by Football Beyond Borders,
a charity that helps young people get the most out of school,
using football to keep kids like Bradley engaged.
His mentor, Lorenzo, has known him since he was 11.
Cool, so three, four years ago, started off the programme,
if you're...
If you're, like, this tall now, how tall do
you reckon you was back then, if you compare it to my hand?
About here?
Yeah, you was a little, little yout!
And whenever you need someone to talk to or some advice,
I'll be here.
The charity helps Bradley and others tackle
the problems that have been holding them back.
It was very hard to control my emotions sometimes -
I'd get very angry on the football pitch.
It's self control.
Hm, how so? What does it mean?
A combination of sympathetic teaching
and mentoring from a charity has supported Bradley in school.
I'm just improving, like, every day as a person
and, like, on the football pitch, as well.
APPLAUSE.
Confidence was a big thing for me, like, at the start of my FBB
journey and I was never ever this confident ever.
Like, I was always that silent kid.
A supportive strategy appears to have worked for Bradley
If all else fails, Government guidance
recommends a tough approach.
Parents can be issued with a fixed penalty fine of £60
if their child keeps missing school without reason.
During the pandemic, the use of fines dwindled almost to nothing
but Panorama has discovered they're making a comeback.
We looked at how fines were issued in England
during the last school year.
Some councils issued dozens of penalties.
Others handed out thousands of them.
At least £8.6 million of fines were issued to parents,
suggesting a return to pre-pandemic levels.
I can think of a number of cases where fines can work,
but, of course, they're not the whole story.
And sometimes they don't work.
And we need to really look with each child
at what is the underlying reason for them not coming in
and address that with whatever it takes.
You know when it gets to, like, September, that's when I'm
gonna start freaking out about it.
No amount of threats or inducements would make
a difference to Abbie's parents.
They know the value of school -
they're both teachers.
Both of us wanted her in school but it was hard
watching her put so much pressure on herself to do something and then
be completely unable to do it.
And it's a painful thing to watch as a parent but it's also she had
a voice and we needed to listen to what she was saying.
How was the walk, Abs?
It was a walk!
LAUGHTER.
Mum and Dad think they've found a solution.
Abbie's going to a small private school.
The local authority will pay the fees because it agrees
this will best meet her needs.
ABBIE LAUGHS.
How worried are you about the start of this term, then?
I'm terrified, if I'm honest.
But she's maintained the whole way along that she wants
to learn in a school, and so we have to give her
the best shot at that.
But we're not inside her head, we can't...
We can't tell what's going on.
We have to be led by her.
So, I think, yeah, we've got our fingers crossed.
Don't eat me!
I will kind of figure out how I feel when that time comes.
Like, the day that I'm supposed to be going to school.
That's when I'll kind of, you know, think about it a little more.
I know that if I think about it, I'm going to make myself
really stressed and really anxious about it.
I really feel for parents of children with special educational
needs where those needs have not been met because I think it can
feel like a huge battle.
Your child should be able to be at school.
Mollie wants to be a sports coach.
After helping out younger kids at school, she's got a placement
with a local charity - Helping Kids Achieve.
So you're right handed, so you throw your left first, yeah?
So, one, two, under, left hook, yeah?
They offer activities and mentoring for children.
So, try and twist your hips a bit more when you...
Because it's more power when you hit, yeah?
All right, you ready?
So, we're gonna duck.
Mollie wants to be the mentor she feels she never had.
So, like, if I had someone like me, I think it
would have gone, like, a lot different.
It sounds to me like you don't want other kids
to have the same kind of experiences that you've had at school?
Yeah, so I think I'd rather go and actually make a change than just
sit and talk about it.
This has happened for me and loads of other people, so...
And it's, like, across the country, as well.
So, it clearly is a problem.
To train as a sports coach, Mollie must get the grades.
I think preparing for the GCSEs, it got quite hard cos
obviously I'd missed out.
And if I don't pass, I'll just have to work my way up,
it's just one of those things.
It's GCSE results day.
Mollie's about to find out the consequences
of all that time out of class.
She hasn't passed Maths and English.
She missed out by just one grade.
It's annoying but I kind of expected it, so...
Mollie's grades are lower than she needs
to do the college course she wants.
She'll have to resit Maths and English.
I don't think it's fair but it's life.
SHE LAUGHS WRYLY.
# Look, they told me that as more time goes by
# I'll be open in my feels
# But truth is I've got the lowdown
# And it's breaking me, even though I look steel
# Like a genre bro...
# Love to go non-stop...#
It's nearly a year since Bradley's dad died.
I just feel like songs over a situation like that
just helps me a lot.
I find that I'm writing songs myself.
I find that easier than talking to someone.
just find music an easier way to cope with things.
Bradley wrote a track to describe how he felt.
He's never recorded the lyrics.
Until now.
# I'll be real two minutes and enough
# I feel like I've got to show more love...
I might be doing this a while.
# He would never say he's unavailable to speak
# And that really gave me trust
# Oooooh!
# I've got bare on my head like hats,
# I've been on the go just writing tracks
# I've been on the go just writing
# So if you'll call me then I won't call back
# I've been in my zone just thinking
# Mum wishing that she gets her old son back
# But I aint' got no-one to keep me straight
# And I lost the man that did that.#
Bradley knows this new school year leading up to his GCSEs is crucial.
Like, my worry is that because of my habits,
in other years, like Year 9 and Year 10, I've...
Like, if I'm upset, I'm not going to take my tests seriously
or I'm not gonna do it.
My worry is that I'll try and do it in Year 11 which I can't do
because those tests are just, like, important.
Like, they're really important for me - my GCSEs, so
whenever I think about school, I think about that
and I think about going into Year 11.
Yeah...
St Mary Magdalene School, autumn term - 8:45am.
Teacher Luke Kirkham is looking out for Bradley
But he's not here.
He's out of the country.
Where out of the country?
Back home - family place in Africa?
Sierra Leone or Liberia?
Nah.
Neither one?
I don't actually know.
I appreciate you - have a good day.
It turns out Bradley and his family have gone to Sierra Leone
to mark the first anniversary of his Dad's death.
Concern is that school have not been contacted and we've had to find out
from Bradley's social group where he is
and he's currently out of the country,
so it will be reported upwards.
The situation was resolved quickly when the family
contacted the school.
Luke works with Bradley, and teenagers like him,
to keep struggling pupils in class.
This should be, like, a rewarding year
as well as a try-hard year.
Including for Bradley, even after everything
he's been through?
Without a doubt. Without a doubt.
That's the whole point.
Especially students like Bradley.
For some teenagers, supportive teachers alone may not be enough.
Abbie has made it into her new school for her first
full lesson in nine months.
Undoubtedly there's lots and lots of Abbie's out there.
Um, and I think the lesson, there are countless lessons
that we can learn, but perhaps one of the most important
is listening to the child.
Their experience is real.
So telling a child who's struggling to get into school that they've just
got to get there and it will be fine when they get there,
that's not necessarily the case.
Abbie could only make it through an hour today.
It will be a long way back for her.
You all right?
Well, I mean, I want to go to school and so I'm kind of,
if I have enough energy for it, I will.
I'm not really talking to people, but I'm kind of just
trying to socialise a little bit.
Mollie's perseverance has paid off.
The college has let her on to the course she wants
and will help her with her resits.
She's determined to make a success of her new life.
It's going to be different being in a normal classroom setting
compared to what I had in school.
So good luck when you start.
So, I think it's going to be difficult with that sudden change.
But then I feel like I'm going to be able to do it because it's
something I want to do.
Bradley has now returned to school.
English, RS, remember it's Tuesday today.
Have a good day.
You too, miss.
He's working with his teachers to get the most from his GCSE year.
Whether it's being burnt out, a personal crisis,
or falling out with school, some children need the right support
to get them through the gates.