Agenda item

1:10

Education Scrutiny Committee has identified the use of Reintegration timetables for pupils by schools in Oxfordshire as a practice worthy of focused attention.

The Department for Education non-statutory guidance 'School attendance Guidance for maintained schools, academies, independent schools and local authorities July 2019 is clear in the section Frequently Asked Questions ''Can a school place a pupil on a part-time timetable?

As a rule, no. All pupils of compulsory school age are entitled to a full-time education. In very exceptional circumstances there may be a need for a temporary part-time timetable to meet a pupil’s individual needs. For example where a medical condition prevents a pupil from attending full-time education and a part-time timetable is considered as part of a re-integration package. A part-time timetable must not be treated as a long-term solution. Any pastoral support programme or other agreement must have a time limit by which point the pupil is expected to attend full-time or be provided with alternative provision.

In agreeing to a part-time timetable a school has agreed to a pupil being absent from school for part of the week or day and therefore must record it as authorised absence.''

 The use of Reintegration timetables by schools in Oxfordshire has been identified as a cause for concern by The Children's Trust, Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children's Board and consequently features in the Oxfordshire Learner Engagement Strategy.

When a pupil is on a Reintegration timetable, that pupil is not in receipt of additional tutoring or other alterative provision.  Equally, the pupil is not under the supervision of professional staff.

Oxfordshire County Attendance Team requires all schools in Oxfordshire to report each pupil on a Re-integration timetable.  The County Attendance Team (since January 2019 only) then logs each report and follows up with the school each half term that the pupil has been returned to a full-time timetable or, if not, what the future plan for the child's ongoing education is.

All Reintegration timetables should be short term, designed to return the pupil to their full time entitlement as soon as possible and fully and explicitly consented to by parents.

The Education Scrutiny Committee is RECOMMENDED to consider and note this report.

At a previous meeting, the Committee had identified the use of Reintegration timetables for pupils by schools in Oxfordshire as a practice worthy of focused attention, and, the disproportionate use of reintegration timetables for pupils with SEND.

Deborah Bell, Head of Learner Engagement reported that the Department for Education non-statutory guidance 'School attendance Guidance for maintained schools, academies, independent schools and local authorities July 2019 was clear that all pupils of compulsory school age were entitled to a full-time education. In very exceptional circumstances there may be a need for a temporary part-time timetable to meet a pupil’s individual needs. For example, where a medical condition prevented a pupil from attending full-time education and a part-time timetable was considered as part of a re-integration package. A part-time timetable must not be treated as a long-term solution. Any pastoral support programme or other agreement must have a time limit by which point the pupil was expected to attend full-time or be provided with alternative provision. In agreeing to a part-time timetable, a school had agreed to a pupil being absent from school for part of the week or day and therefore must record it as authorised absence.

All Reintegration timetables should be short term, designed to return the pupil to their full-time entitlement as soon as possible and fully and explicitly consented to by parents.

When a pupil was on a Reintegration timetable, the parent or carer was responsible for the child when they were not in school.  This consequentially must be considered from a safeguarding perspective as well as from an achievement and attainment perspective.  The use of Reintegration timetables by schools in Oxfordshire had been identified as a cause for concern by The Children's Trust, Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children's Board and consequently featured in the Oxfordshire Learner Engagement Strategy.

When a pupil was on a Reintegration timetable, that pupil was not in receipt of additional tutoring or other alterative provision.  Equally, the pupil was not under the supervision of professional staff.

Oxfordshire County Council had issued new reintegration timetable guidance for schools and shared on Schools News.  The guidance was also available on the Learner Engagement web pages.  Oxfordshire County Attendance Team required all schools in Oxfordshire to report each pupil on a Re-integration timetable.  The County Attendance Team (since January 2019 only) then logged each report and followed up with the school each half term that the pupil has been returned to a full-time timetable or, if not, what the future plan for the child's ongoing education is.

Best practice settings have a lead Governor for Inclusion who receives a termly report breaking down all pupils not receiving their full-time entitlement (as well as those removed from roll with reasons and destinations).  This allowed for strategic challenge of operational practice.  Headteachers report to Governors examples of best practice and share headlines on this cohort.

The September 2019 Ofsted inspection framework may render greater inspectorate scrutiny of this practice as ‘off-rolling’ is a new feature of the framework.  The reality of this will emerge over the forthcoming months. 

Members made the following points during discussion:

The Committee noted that 50% of reintegration timetables were used for children with SEN support and that 43% of the timetables were used by academies.

Carole Thomson requested that officers give careful consideration to how the message was conveyed to schools, focusing on if, how and why the school should use them in the future.

There was insufficient support for children with SEN transitioning into primary school.  Deborah Bell confirmed that a large piece of work was being carried out around school readiness.

The Committee noted that it was the DfE’s requirement that the timetables were used to meet the child’s needs and not the schools’ needs.  There was a need to build up the provision for the child with alternative provision.

The Committee expressed concern over the lack of parental understanding around giving consent for reduced timetables, as it was thought that parents often did not understand that there was a choice or an alternative.

Members were invited to receive, accept and endorse this report.  Members were also invited to consider the following recommendations for future action:

·                To promote the new OCC guidance to schools on Reintegration Timetables.

·                To challenge the use of Reintegration timetables by schools disproportionately for pupils with SEND, even as an alternative to exclusion, as part of the drive for inclusive practice in all schools for all children.

·                To present this new Reintegration timetable data to Headteachers, SENCos and Chairs of Governors during Autumn term 2019.

·                To consider the availability of appropriate alternative provision, as informed by development work that Members will be aware of. 

RESOLVED: to thank officers for the work carried out in this area thus far and to request that officers report back annually on progress.