A maximum of 15 minutes will be allocated to public questions submitted in writing to Democratic Services (democratic.services@trafford.gov.uk) by 4 p.m. on the working day prior to the meeting. Questions must be relevant to items appearing on the agenda and will be submitted in the order in which they were received.

Four questions were received for the meeting with the questions and responses below.

The first question was from Ms. Jones.

1.    With the number of children from the local area attending Urmston Grammar diminishing over the last decade, resulting in now almost two thirds of UGS pupils coming from outside the local area, what is there being done around access to Urmston Grammar for children from West Trafford?

The Director of Education Standards, Quality, and Performance responded verbally in the meeting and the written response is below.

“Urmston Grammar school is an academy and therefore independent of Trafford LA. They operate according to their funding agreement between the individual academy trust and Secretary of State.  There is no mechanism for an academy to return to local authority control.

An admissions authority is the body responsible for setting a school’s admissions arrangements (i.e., how it will allocate places) and for some aspects of administering the admissions process.

Applicants wishing to be considered for admission to a Grammar School in Trafford must first be successful in the entrance examination for the preferred grammar school.

Any decisions regarding these arrangements sit solely with the school, not the LA.”

The second and third question were received from Dr. Kelly. The statement asked to the officer was quite lengthy, and the responses below are regarding the two questions asked by the resident.

The Director of Education Standards, Quality, and Performance provided a verbal response in the meeting and the written responses and questions can be seen below.

2.    What actions are the Council taking to ensure that Trafford schools are coding absences appropriately to ensure SEMH children are identified and supported as early as possible, AND ensure that parents are not subject to fines or prosecution for their SEMH child’s non-attendance?

“The Pupil Absence Team advises schools in accordance with the following:

The Department for Education (DfE) summary of responsibilities where a mental health issue is affecting attendance links to the DfE Working Together guidance stating that school staff should advise parents/carers to notify them on the first day the child is unable to attend due to illness. School staff must record absences as authorised where it is not possible for a pupil to attend due to illness (both physical and mental health related).

Our Trafford Emotionally based school non-attendance (EBSNA) guidance document states: the absence should be authorised if school is satisfied that the reasons given are genuine and should therefore be coded I (illness) in the school register. DfE guidance is clear that schools should authorise absence due to both physical and mental health related illness.

Our Trafford Model Attendance policy does not differentiate between types of illness but does state:

In the majority of cases, absences for illness which are reported following the school’s absence reporting procedures will be authorised without the need for parents to supply medical evidence unnecessarily. In line with Department for Education guidance, if we do have a genuine concern about the authenticity of the illness, we may ask the parent to provide medical evidence, such as a prescription, appointment card, or other appropriate form of evidence. If the school is not satisfied about the authenticity of the illness, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised.

For information, the House of Commons Education Committee report in September 2023 recommended that the DfE should introduce a mental health absence code and set clear thresholds for its use. These thresholds should ensure only serious cases of mental health problems necessitate absence. This will eliminate the need to repeatedly provide medical evidence in cases of known mental health difficulties.

Penalty Notices and prosecutions will only be considered by the Trafford Pupil Absence team as a very last resort in all cases of irregular attendance when the school has exhausted all appropriate supportive strategies in accordance with the Working Together agenda.”

3.    Will the Council take steps to ensure schools in Trafford recognise that parents have the necessary authority to decide whether their child is too unwell to attend school and that mental health is a valid reason for non-attendance?

“From the Trafford Model Attendance Policy:  Where a child has an emerging a pattern of non-attendance, we will discuss the reasons for absence with the child’s parent. We will invite parents to attend school-led Attendance Support meeting as an appropriate early intervention strategy. As part of this support, we may seek consent from parents and the pupil as appropriate to liaise with the child’s healthcare professional.

It is at the school’s discretion whether to authorise an absence, based on the individual circumstances of each case.   We accept that mental health issues are a main driver of illness absence in schools and as such we work closely with schools to ensure that they offer appropriate advice to parents where mental health may be a reason for absence.  Such advice may include for school to introduce an Individual Healthcare Plan agreeing to reasonable adjustments to a pupil’s timetable ( closely monitored and reviewed by all parties), using the EBSNA toolkit to identify the reasons for absence as early on as possible, and to signpost to appropriate agencies, for example, the School Nursing service, Educational Psychology, counselling services,  Early Help, CAMHS, and/or a potential referral to our Medical Education Service.”

The final question was also received from Ms. Jones.

The Director of Education Standards, Quality, and Performance provided a verbal response in the meeting and the written response can be seen below.

4.    Can the Council consider providing a fully non-selective secondary school in Urmston to both avoid discrimination faced by non-Catholic families forced to separate siblings and improve provision for LGBTQ+ pupils who may not thrive in a single sex setting?

Could a non- selective school be provided through either:

Removing the selective status of UGS, given that only 10% of local children are admitted there currently or converting one or both single sex schools to co-educational?

If so, would either change need to be Council or parent driven and how can this be affected if the latter is the case?

“There are two routes to setting up a new school. The local authority route needs to be clear that a new school is needed in that locality (i.e., based on the number of spaces required).

There is insufficient demand to establish a new school in this locality and therefore an application would be unsuccessful.

The selective status of Urmston Grammar School cannot be removed by the local authority. It is an academy and therefore Councils have no powers to direct academies to change their status.

The department’s National and Regional directors and their teams, together with the education and skills funding agency, provide robust educational and financial oversight of all academy trusts.”