At the last full Council meeting I asked a question of the Executive Member for Lifelong Learning about how Cumberland was performing on school attendance. I know this is an issue many people are worried about, particularly since the Covid pandemic. Here is the answer I received in writing:

Dear Councillor Pickstone

At the meeting of Council on 9 July 2024, in reference to Executive Minute EX.11/24 on the ‘Cumberland School Attendance Pledge’ you asked how the authority was doing in terms of school attendance and whether figures could be provided, in particular since the Covid pandemic.

Please find the response below

Unfortunately, we don’t have Cumberland level attendance information that goes as far back as pre-Covid. We are restricted by our historical data being based on a Cumbria footprint and DfE data collections only becoming accurate in the last few months. 

Over the last couple of months Cumberland’s school attendance has slipped to slightly below the national average. This is driven by a slight uptick in unauthorised absences. 

Overall school attendance

• 2022-2023 – 91.8% Cumberland vs 92.5% national rate – a 0.7% difference
• 2023-2024 – 92.3% Cumberland vs 92.9% national rate – a 0.6% difference

We are closing the gap with the national average albeit slower than we would like. Our hope is that with our new attendance teams, data capabilities and Attendance Pledge to anchor off, we will be able to bring Cumberland in line with the national average by the end of the next academic year. There is no doubt that this will be a significant challenge, especially when attendance is as much a cultural issue as any other drivers.

Anecdotally, we have seen an increase in Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) and term-time holidays. Work is ongoing through our Educational Psychology service to support those EBSA children and with the increased attendance team size, more targeted work can be undertaken with schools to drive good attendance.

You will see from the national statistics below that absence has risen across the country and it is an informed assumption that Cumberland is no exception to this.

National Statistics: