Executive Summary
- According to parents, levels of attendance have improved from March to December 2022. Significantly more parents in December (87%) said that their child’s attendance was very good compared with parents in March (75%)
- More parents in December (46%) said that their child’s school was no longer providing access to remote learning compared with parents in March (35%)
- The attitudes that parents have towards attendance changed in two areas from March to December: significantly fewer parents in December said that they would keep their child home if 1) their child felt a little under the weather or 2) their child felt stressed or anxious
- The percentage of parents who said that it is acceptable to go on a term-time holiday remained unchanged from March to December. This was the most frequently chosen reason by parents for missing school
- Only 10 out of 656 parents in December said that they had kept their child home from school due to concerns about catching COVID, which was a large drop from the number of parents in March who had kept their children home due to this reason
- There were additional reasons why parents kept their child home from school and six of these changed from March to December, five of which involved reduced concerns about COVID
Introduction
This is the second attendance survey that we have delivered in Wallsend, the first being in March 2022. The questions in this survey are identical to those we asked parents in March, which allows for a fairly straightforward comparison between the near start and the end of 2022.
Following on from the initial survey that we delivered in March 2022, we have had feedback from parents in Wallsend who have repeatedly said that issues with attendance have caused significant stress. Similarly, some schools have experienced persistent problems associated with attendance. Furthermore, the situation with COVID has changed since March, with many regarding it as less of a concern. As such, the purpose of this follow-up survey was to see if attitudes towards attendance have changed from earlier in the year.
This report is a top-line report only and will not report on the qualitative comments from parents. A more thorough analysis, which will include a comparison between primary and secondary schools, will follow in due course and will include all questions asked on the survey. Individual schools reports, where response rates from parents were large enough, will also be issued at this time.
Demographics
Six-hundred and fifty-six parents responded to the survey, of which 76% were joint parent households. Nearly all parents were from Wallsend, with two-thirds of parents from Howdon, Wallsend Central and Battle Hill wards (Table 1). Fewer parents were from Chirton, Northumberland or Riverside wards. A small number of parents were not from Wallsend.
Table 1. Where parents live in Wallsend
| Ward | % |
| Battle Hill ward | 18% |
| Chirton ward | 1% |
| Howdon ward | 32% |
| Northumberland ward | 3% |
| Riverside ward | 2% |
| Wallsend Central ward | 28% |
| I do not live in Wallsend | 8% |
| I’m not sure | 8% |
The demographics of parents were similar to those who responded to our first survey in March 2022, as levels of education and housing circumstances were very similar in both groups of parents (Tables 2 & 3).
Table 2. Parents’ level of education, March vs. Dec 2022
| March 2022 | Dec 2022 | |
| A level (or equivalent) | 24% | 20% |
| Degree (or higher) | 41% | 45% |
| GCSE (or equivalent) | 19% | 22% |
| No formal qualifications | 2% | 2% |
| Other | 8% | 5% |
| Prefer not to say | 6% | 6% |
Table 3. Parents’ housing situation, March vs. Dec 2022
| March 2022 | Dec 2022 | |
| I own my home | 61% | 57% |
| I rent from the council | 21% | 20% |
| I rent privately | 17% | 16% |
| Other | 1% | 1% |
Tables 4 and 5 show the response rate by school and year group. As can be seen from Table 5, response rates were fairly evenly distributed across year groups, except for year groups 12 and 13, which had fewer parents who responded to the survey.
Table 4. Response rate by school
| School name | N |
| Beacon Hill | 16 |
| Burnside College | 106 |
| Carville | 7 |
| Churchill Community College | 170 |
| Denbigh | 34 |
| Hadrian Park | 40 |
| Redesdale | 33 |
| Richardson Dees | 34 |
| Silverdale | 2 |
| St Aidan’s | 45 |
| St Columba’s | 28 |
| St Thomas More | 40 |
| Stephenson Memorial | 24 |
| Western | 77 |
Table 5. Response rate by year group
| Year group | N |
| Reception | 53 |
| Year 1 | 46 |
| Year 2 | 51 |
| Year 3 | 43 |
| Year 4 | 34 |
| Year 5 | 39 |
| Year 6 | 50 |
| Year 7 | 60 |
| Year 8 | 79 |
| Year 9 | 63 |
| Year 10 | 56 |
| Year 11 | 54 |
| Year 12 | 3 |
| Year 13 | 9 |
| Other | 16 |
Regarding how pupils travelled to school, there were some small changes from March to December 2022, as more pupils were getting the bus and fewer pupils were getting a lift in a car to school (Table 6). However, more parents with children in secondary school responded to the survey in December than in March (50% vs. 20%). This might explain why the data shows that more pupils were getting the bus in December than in March.
Table 6. How young people get to school most days
| March 2022 | Dec 2022 | |
| Bicycle | 1% | 1% |
| Bus | 3% | 12% |
| Car | 35% | 29% |
| Metro | 1% | 1% |
| Taxi | 3% | 2% |
| Walk | 57% | 54% |
| Other | 1% | 1% |
Main Findings
From the perspective of parents, attendance had improved from March to December 2022, with significantly more parents in December reporting that their child’s attendance was very good (from 75% to 87%) (Figure 1). There were no other statistically significant changes from March to December; about equal numbers of parents in March and December said that their child enjoyed being at school, that their child did not want to miss out on anything at school, that their child had good friends at school, and that their child enjoyed learning at school.
Figure 1. School attendance and satisfaction at school, March vs. Dec 2022
In addition, 96% of parents said that school attendance was important (or very important) to their child’s learning, the same as what parents said in March (Figure 2).
Figure 2. “How important do you think school attendance is to your child’s learning?”
On our March 2022 attendance survey, we asked parents if schools were still providing access to remote learning for children who were unwell or isolating. We asked the same question on this survey. As can be seen from Figure 3, more parents (46%) said in December that their child’s school no longer provided access to remote learning compared with what parents said in March (35%). Similarly, fewer parents (24%) in December said that their child’s school provided access to remote learning when their child was isolating due to COVID compared with March (43%).
Figure 3. “Does your child’s school provide access to remote learning if your child is unwell or isolating?”
As can be seen from Figure 4, fewer parents (34%) in December said that access to remote learning had made it more important for children to attend school in person compared with March (49%).
Figure 4. “In your view, has access to remote learning made it more or less important for children to attend school in person?”
Parents’ attitudes towards attendance had changed in two areas from March to December 2022 (Figure 5). Significantly fewer parents in December said that they would keep their child home if 1) their child felt a little under the weather and 2) their child felt stressed or anxious.
There were no other significant changes in attitudes from March to December (Figure 5): about the same proportion of parents said that they would keep their child home from school if a) their child preferred to learn from home, b) their child offered to help out at home, c) their child would be late for school, c) their child just wanted to stay home from school, d) there was something more fun to do at home, and e) they were going on a term-time family holiday.
Going on a family term-time holiday was the most frequently chosen reason by parents. However, although 29% of parents said that this was an acceptable reason for not attending school, considerably fewer parents (17%) said that they had actually gone on a term-time holiday (Table 7, below). Please keep in mind that taking a child on a term-time holiday can only occur in exceptional circumstances, which requires permission from the child’s school. Without this permission, parents can be fined. For further information on this, see here.
Figure 5. The acceptability of reasons for staying home, March vs. Dec 2022
Only 10 out of 656 parents said that they had recently kept their child home due to concerns about catching COVID. This represents a significant drop from March to December (2% vs. 8%). Figure 6 shows the reasons why some parents kept their child home from school due to concerns about COVID, which were thematically identical to those mentioned by parents in March (Figure 6).
Figure 6. Reasons for keeping children home due to worries about COVID
Parents were asked what the reasons were for keeping their child home from school. As can be seen from Table 7, there was a 5% or more change on six reasons from March to December 2022. As expected, nearly all of these reasons were COVID related: fewer parents in December said that they had kept their child home from school because a) they were unable to take their child into school, b) they were worried that their child had COVID and would spread it to someone else, c) their child tested positive for COVID, d) their child was feeling ill and had COVID symptoms, d) their child had been in contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID, and e) their child’s class had been sent home due to COVID.
Table 7. “What other reasons have you kept your child home from school?”
| March 2022 | Dec 2022 | Change | |
| I took my child somewhere fun for the day | 1% | 1% | 0% |
| I was unable to take my child into school that day | 7% | 2% | -5% |
| I was worried that my child might have Covid and spread it to someone else | 15% | 5% | -10% |
| My child and I woke up too late for school | 0% | 1% | 1% |
| My child asked not to go into school | 2% | 3% | 1% |
| My child had to attend an appointment | 25% | 23% | -2% |
| My child tested positive for Covid | 56% | 43% | -13% |
| My child was feeling ill and had Covid symptoms | 40% | 25% | -15% |
| My child was ill or feeling unwell (non-Covid symptoms) | 61% | 62% | 1% |
| My child was in contact with someone who tested positive for Covid | 43% | 16% | -27% |
| My child’s class was sent home due to Covid | 45% | 25% | -20% |
| My child’s sibling was already being kept off school | 3% | 1% | -2% |
| The weather was bad (i.e., cold, windy or raining) | 1% | 1% | 0% |
| We went on holiday | 16% | 17% | 1% |
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