Children Missing Education (CME) Update (May 2015)
Children Missing Education exploitation continues to be a subject that is high profile locally and nationally
and it is important that in Nottinghamshire we continue to develop good practice in this area. CME is led by the
Service Director for Education, Standards and Inclusion and is monitored by the CME
which meets monthly.
Monitoring Group
The primary aim is to identify children who are currently missing education or are at risk of missing
education. Children and young people who are not accessing their full entitlement are also a focus of the
monitoring group.
“Everyone must take greater responsibility for knowing where these children are.
We owe it to them
to ensure they are safe and can succeed” (Pupils Missing Out on Education Ofsted 2013)
Who are the children missing education?
Most of the CME cohort is a different cohort of children to those considered to be ‘missing’. Children who are
missing include those who may or may not be on a school roll. However, their whereabouts are unknown. The
whereabouts of children missing education are known but these children and young people are:
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not accessing their full educational entitlement as a result of failing to secure a school place,
refusing to attend their school place and Targeted Support are identifying them as a concern,
on a school roll but accessing less than their full educational entitlement
any child or young person known to services without a school place or refusing to attend school
The DfE guidance to schools regarding Children Missing Education (January 2015) also includes the following
vulnerable groups:
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pupils at risk of harm/neglect
children of gypsy, Roma and traveller families
families of armed forces
missing children/runaways
children and young people supervised by the Youth Justice System
Children missing education are at significant
becoming NEET later in life.
exploitation.
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risk of underachieving, being victims of abuse and
In addition, CME are at risk of being subject to child sexual
Key recent reports & recent learning
1. Children Missing Education Statutory guidance for local authorities DfE January 2015
2. Not present, what future? Children Missing Education in England National Children’s Bureau June 2014
3. Pupils Missing out in Education Ofsted November 2013
4. Children Missing from Education Ofsted 2010
Issues from the reports
Positive strategic and operational response
Local authorities must identify “as far as it is possible to
do so, children missing education (CME) and get them
back into education” (DfE January 2015)
Strong leadership and a corporate
culture has been developed to ensure that CME is
“Local authorities can use other duties and powers to
support their work of CME.” (DfE January 2015)
Local Authority powers are effectively used by
“Local authorities should regularly raise awareness of
their procedures with local schools, partners and
agencies working with children and families.” (DfE
January 2015”
Existing communication structures with
“… having a high level of recorded CME does not
necessarily indicate that a local authority is performing
poorly in comparison to those with lower CME rates. It
is possible that a higher figure demonstrates that a
local authority is more effective at collecting and
recording the relevant data.” (NCB June 2014)
the responsibility of everyone from the Chief Executive,
Director of Children’s Services and at all levels to
ensure that children and young people do not become
missing from education.
a range of service areas and teams. These include the
issuing of attendance orders by Targeted Support,
prosecution of parents for non-attendance, the use of
NCET to ensure every child excluded or at risk of being
without educational provision is identified, placed on
the NCET register and appropriate provision provided
schools and governing bodies are being used
effectively to ensure that everyone accepts
responsibility for children who may be at risk of missing
education. CME is a shared priority in every
service area within Children, Families and Cultural
services.
As a result of the introduction of more rigorous
data monitoring the number of CME has risen.
However, in relation to Fair Access termly data, which
has been recorded since 2013, there is evidence that
closer scrutiny whilst identifying more vulnerable CME,
is supporting services to better understand the
contributory factors that cause a child or young person
to miss education and, therefore, develop new
ways of working to support them back to full time
education in a school or through high quality
alternative provision.
“Local authorities have a statutory duty to arrange
suitable full-time education for children of compulsory
school age at school or otherwise for children and
young people who do not attend school in the usual
way” (Ofsted November 2013)
Since September 2014, data collection systems,
including a termly return by schools of children on their
roll not accessing full time provision, has allowed the
Local Authority to challenge schools who are not
supporting children and young people who are able,
back to full time provision.
“Local authorities and schools that respond quickly to
The Education Psychology Service in
any signs of disengagement, or children and young
partnership with CAMHS has developed a
people’s anxieties, were more successful in helping
package to support schools to identify and intervene
them to achieve at levels comparable with those of their
positively when early signs of anxiety can be detected.
peers and return to full time education.” (Ofsted
November 2013)
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What are we currently doing in Nottinghamshire?
Children Missing Education Action Plan 2014 -2015
Following the identification of CME as a highly vulnerable group, a corporate CME Action Plan was drafted and
implemented in March 2014. This plan focussed on key priorities and the Impact Review (April 2015) has
identified key achievements and learning:
Priority 1 - The development of a corporate culture around inclusion and CME
Impact evidence:
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Explicit corporate commitment to CME now evident across the department (evidenced by monthly CME
Monitoring Meeting now in place and internal services now strategically aligned around cross service
provision for CME – see space ship diagram)
Service Director for Education, Standards and Inclusion leading on the implementation of the strategy
(evidenced by Action Plan monitoring at monthly monitoring meeting and also by DLT. In addition, CME
data reported monthly to CFCSLT performance meeting)
Director’s Report to Governors distributed (evidenced by the completion of CME report for Autumn term
2014 governing body meetings and mediated at the September 2014 Heads and chairs Briefings. CME
also the theme of a workshop at the March 2015, Governor Conference which had a focus on vulnerable
children)
Priority 2 – Development of a Nottinghamshire CME Policy
Impact evidence:
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A CME Policy was developed in partnership with key internal partners informed by consultation with all
schools (evidenced by inclusion of policy consultation through the primary and secondary Headteacher
Summer 2014 term briefings (6 primary events and 1 secondary event).
The CME Policy mediated with key stakeholders including the Dioceses, school based teachers and
senior leaders and internal teams such as HRET, Ed Psychs, SEND. In addition, the policy has been
mediated with and discussed at the Governors’ Board, Primary Trust Board, Secondary Trust Board,
Place Planning and Admissions Board Chaired by Cllr Peck, Termly Diocesan Meetings chaired by Cllr
Peck.
The CME Policy was ratified by Children and Young people’s Committee on 23 April 2014 and the Policy
Committee on 7 May 2014.
Action 3 – all services to incorporate CME into 2014-2015 Service Plans
Impact evidence:
The Service plans for 2014-2015 were reviewed and the following teams incorporated key actions within their
respective 2014-2015 service plans:
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Quality Assurance – develop robust data systems to support the monitoring of CME (Jon Hawketts Group Manager Quality and Improvement)
Targeted Support and Youth Justice – to forge closer working with internal services and schools to ensure
children and young people at risk of being CME are identified and appropriately supported back to full
time education (Laurence Jones - Group Manager Targeted Support and Youth Justice Services)
Admissions and Fair Access – further develop the weekly, termly monitoring of children and young people
without a school place to ensure that the Fair Access protocol identifies vulnerable children and young
people without a school place(Marion Clay – Group Manager Support to Schools Service)
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Children’s Social Care – to further develop CSC workforce to ensure that those children and young people
subject to a CPP or CIN are appropriately referred to the Fair Access Team and/or Targeted Support if
school attendance is a concern (Amanda Collinson – Group Manager, Children’s Disability Services)
Group Managers have also been held to account for CME through the monthly Monitoring meeting
chaired by Service Director for Education, Standards and Inclusion.
Action 4 – Present guidance to schools regarding CME
Impact evidence:
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Guidelines and advice to schools was distributed during the spring and autumn terms 2015 as planned.
As a result of the focus on CME, the Fair Access Officer, working in partnership with the Children Missing
officer, reviewed the guidance to schools regarding missing children and the process for reporting them to
the LA. Revised advice and guidance was sent to schools on 19 November 2014 by Glen Scruby,
Children Missing Officer
The advice regarding the context in which statutory school aged pupils can be removed from a school
register, was also confirmed again with schools. Senior officers challenge, as a matter of urgency, every
known ‘illegal’ removal from a school register to ensure no child or young person becomes missing. There
is some evidence that school leaders are accepting the challenge of operational officers as a result of the
increased support of the most senior officers.
As a result of knowing the CME cohort in more depth and the analysis undertaken to identify the barriers
impeding the admission and full attendance and access of their full entitlement at school, the Education
Psychology Service has developed new guidance, training and are in the process of implementing a new
process in relation to anxiety related nonattendance. (This distribution of the materials and training is
planned for June 2015 and will be a priority in the 2015-2016 CME Action Plan)
Action 5 - Analysis of CPC and CIN Plans
Impact evidence
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This action is underway but not yet completed. As a result of the work being completed by information
and systems for the Ofsted Annexe A analysis, information is collected from both Framework and Capita 1
identifying children who are currently subject of a CIN or CPP where non-attendance or non-access to
education are issues. These cases are then directed to the relevant teams by the information and
systems team. This action is ongoing.
Action 6 – Tracking and reviewing of pupils not on a school roll or accessing full time provision
Impact evidence
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A tracking system is now in place to capture high and medium concern cases. An individual pupil
monitoring sheet now captures key information from all services, including CSC. This sheet also presents
a clear chronology that allows senior officers to monitor difficult cases and agree actions to be allocated to
group managers and other senior officers. These actions are monitored at the monthly monitoring
meeting.
In addition, the Information and Systems team now collect from schools termly a list of pupils who are not
accessing their full educational entitlement. This data collection also requests information about the
school based plans to ensure the child returns to a full entitlement in a timely and appropriate manner.
This information is monitored on a termly basis at the monthly monitoring meeting and where there is a
lack of clarity about the school’s plan for individual pupils to return to full time education, this is
appropriately challenged. (Key actions to be carried forward to 2015-2016 will include the further
development of systems that will allow the sharing of pupil level data related to admissions, and full
entitlement.)
Action 7 – Governance and monitoring arrangements
Impact evidence
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There are clear monitoring arrangements in place to monitor CME throughout the year. Rather than bimonthly, the CME monitoring meeting is chaired by the Service Director for Education, Standards and
Inclusion on a monthly basis April 2014-April 2015. (This monthly meeting will continue throughout 20152016)
Key strategic meetings around the CME agenda have also included the strengthening of the AVC Meeting
which is also now chaired by the Service Director. This has harnessed key services from education,
health, and CSC and has also included school representatives. The further development of the
Vulnerable Children Education Commissioning group has also emerged during the year to allow key
services to identify high concern cases to agree a multi-agency plan ‘pooling’ their existing resources thus
ensuring the best value of limited resource.
CME - Key Priorities going forward
We are continuing to improve and develop the work that we are doing within Nottinghamshire. Key priorities for
2015-2016 include:
Early intervention with primary
aged children at risk of CME
Work is underway to expand the Primary
Behaviour Partnerships to ensure that primary
aged children at risk of becoming CME are
identified, referred to the appropriate professional
and supported to maintain full time provision.
Engagement with schools
Further develop a shared responsibility for CME
to ensure that senior school leaders understand
their responsibility for any child or young person
at risk of CME. The further development of
effective information sharing through the locality
partnerships should ensure that any child or
young person at risk of becoming CME is known
at all times by relevant professionals.
Intelligence sharing with partners
Further refine the Vulnerable Children
Education and Commissioning group to ensure
that available funding, resources, and
professionals are effectively deployed in a
coherent and strategic way to maximise the
benefit to individual vulnerable pupils and
young people at risk of being CME.
Additional CME officer post (Children
in Care)
CSC and the Support to Schools Service is
considering seeking funding from Schools
Forum to fund an additional Children Missing
Education officer as a result of our increased
understanding of the number of children who
are at risk of becoming ‘lost’ within the system.
CME on part time provision
Fair Access Protocol
Consolidate the data gathering process to ensure
that the analysis undertaken identifies children
and young people who are at risk of not
accessing their full education entitlement. In
addition to strengthen existing systems to
challenge schools and other providers who are
not meeting legal requirements.
Continue to monitor children and young people
without a school place or at risk of being
without a school place weekly to ensure that
the Fair Access protocol is effectively used to
ensure vulnerable children and young people
can secure a school place or appropriate
provision.
CME Training for CFCS
Multi-agency working
Consolidate the work of the Admission of Vulnerable
Groups meeting, chaired by the Service Director for
Education, Standards and Inclusion to ensure that
further good practice is developed to ensure no child
is missing education.
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Develop an online training and information module
that provides every employee within CFCS with an
introduction to CME to include a focus on
everyone’s responsibility to report and act whenever
a child or young person is identified at being at risk
of becoming CME
APPENDIX 1: How We All Work Together
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Children Missing from Education (CME) – Data used to monitor Children
Missing Education which includes children who are being worked with under Fair Access
APPENDIX 2:
A: Children Missing Education Monitoring Group – Monthly Data
(Source Capita One)
Definition: Children are referred to the Children Missing Education Monitoring Group from cross
departmental services. They are then given a RAG rating as follows:
Red: Cause for concern. Being investigated / monitored.
Amber: Appropriate plan in place to progress appropriate entitlement. Being monitored.
Green: Receiving an appropriate package of education for their needs. Continuing to review.
Table 1 – Cases Currently Being Monitored
(Monthly)
The number of CME cases monitored by the CME
Monitoring Group is now relatively stable. The
number of cases RAG’d Red has declined over the
last year as the process has been refined and has
matured. All cases RAG’d Red are targeted as a
matter of urgency.
Table 2 – Cases by Source (April 2015)
The sources of cases referred to the CME Monitoring
Group are monitored at service level. The high
number of referrals from the Health Related
Education Team (HRET) has influenced the
development of a support package for anxious
learners.
Table 3 – Cases by Gender (April 2015)
Data is analysed by gender on a monthly basis.
The data is relatively equal for girls and boys
throughout the academic year.
Table 4 – Cases by School Phase (April 2015)
Data is analysed by school phase on a monthly
basis. Data for the current academic year identifies
significantly more secondary-aged pupils of high
concern. Primary-aged pupils at risk of being CME
are targeted by the Primary PSED team.
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Table 5 – Cases by Special Educational Needs
(April 2015)
Data is analysed by SEN Stage on a monthly
basis. In the majority of CME have no special
provision, however, those that are RAG’d Red and
those that are statmented or on an EHC Plan are
closely monitored by SEND representatives on the
CME Monitoring group.
Table 6 – Cases by Looked After Child status
(April 2015)
The education of every child who comes into care is a
priority. Every LAC assesses their full educational
entitlement in school or through high quality
alternative provision. Reduced provision for LAC must
be agreed by health professionals, the LAC Virtual
School and social workers.
Table 7 – Cases that have been the subject of a
CiN or CPP Plan in the last 3 months (April
2015)
Children in Need and Child Protection Plans are
analysed to ensure that every vulnerable child is
accessing their educational entitlement. Those with
Red RAG ratings are targeted as a matter of
urgency.
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B: Fair Access Weekly Monitoring Data
(Source: Data held in FAP Team)
Definition: Children who have applied for a school place but will have to be admitted under Fair Access Officer.
Table 1 – Fair Access – Children Missing Education 2014/15
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Table 2 - Fair Access Termly Monitoring Data
Number of children at risk of
being without a school place and
facilitated back into school under
the Fair Access Team
Average days missed from school
Acad
Year
2012-13
Unknown
Autumn
Term 13
Spring
Term 14
Summer
Term 14
Autumn
Term 14
Spring
Term 15
82
Acad
Year
2013-14
193
56
55
96
80
94
25
30
32
29
29
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The revisions of the FAP processes and the introduction of the ‘Children Missing Education’ (CME) strategy, have
secured significant improvement in reducing the number of days a child is without a school place with the
average of 94 days in 2012-13 significantly reduced to an average of 29 days in 2013-14. It is expected that ‘In
Year’ admission applicants will be allocated a school place within 20 days. Applicants who do not secure a place
through normal processes are referred to the Fair Access Team who ensures that an appropriate place is fairly
allocated by the relevant school based locality partnership.
The team also accepts referrals from other local authority teams and schools when a vulnerable child or young
person is unable to access their existing provision for complex reasons. Such children are deemed to be at risk
of becoming Children Missing Education (CME). In exceptional circumstances interim provision is arranged to
help transition vulnerable children onto appropriate educational pathways.
The increase in the number of children supported by the Fair Access Team is likely to be a reflection of more
effective partnership working between LA teams and clearer processes for the identification of those children in
Nottinghamshire who are vulnerable in terms of access to education.
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