Islington will host a borough-wide Attendance Summit at the Emirates Stadium in May 2025, as part of its ongoing efforts to improve school attendance across the borough. The summit is a key component of the Attendance Strategy for Islington schools.

The Islington Council's Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee convened on Tuesday, 30 December 2025, to discuss strategies for improving school attendance, particularly for vulnerable groups. The committee received updates on the Attendance Strategy for Islington schools, which aims to improve school attendance by 1% by the Summer Term of 2025, and heard evidence from Place2Be, a charity providing mental health services in schools, and Dr Jill Sasseni, Principal Educational Psychologist, about Emotional-Based School Non-Attendance (EBSNA).

The Attendance Strategy includes several initiatives beyond the 1% improvement target, such as Family Hubs, an attendance call to arms , an Attendance Mentor programme, targeted support meetings with schools, and a youth council survey of pupils' views on attendance.

The council has set up three Family Hubs in different parts of the borough to provide support to parents and children. The council has visited all 52 mainstream schools in Islington to identify their attendance challenges and create support plans. Other initiatives include an attendance call to arms , an Attendance Mentor programme, targeted support meetings with schools, and a youth council survey of pupils' views on attendance.

Councillor Micheline Safi Ngongo, Executive Member for Children, Young People and Families, reported on the council's investment in improving school attendance, including the appointment of 10 Islington Professional Partners to work with schools and the launch of a School Support Programme.

The committee also discussed the importance of a support first approach, addressing the root causes of poor attendance, and supporting parents with mental health issues. Schools were reminded of their statutory duty to submit their attendance data daily to the Department for Education's central portal. The meeting information does not specify the consequences for non-compliance.

Place2Be presented research showing that one-to-one counselling can reduce persistent absence and fixed-term exclusions. They recommended improving school cultures through a whole-school approach to mental health and inclusion, reforming collaboration between agencies, providing earlier support for families, and ensuring high-quality mental health support in every school.

Dr Sasseni outlined the council's new EBSNA Protocol for Schools, designed to help schools understand and meet the needs of children who are not attending school. The key principles of the EBSNA protocol for CYP Scrutiny January 2025 final version 003 are:

  • Know the child and intervene early to ensure a rapid and positive return to school.
  • Good attendance depends on effective whole school approaches for supporting wellbeing and belonging, inclusive environments, trauma informed approaches and adaptations to the learning and the environment
  • Effective support requires a responsive Team Around the Child (TAC), where the family, school staff and outside professionals can work together collaboratively in a trusting, blame-free and respectful relationship
  • The Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle is used at key decision points to assess progress against outcomes to determine if more targeted or specialist professional support is required
  • Support at key transition points is important.
  • School staff have easy access to a range of tried and tested resources, audits and templates - to avoid having to re-invent the wheel.

The protocol emphasises early intervention, whole-school approaches, collaborative relationships, and the use of a range of tools and resources.

The next steps for the protocol include:

  • Seeking approval from the SEND Partnership Board
  • Launching this version in schools and settings in the spring term
  • Presenting the protocol at SENCO, Deputy Heads, Senior Mental Health Leads and Parent Carer forums
  • Further work to explore the prevalence of EBSNA
  • Considering the development of additional resources for children and young people, parents/carers, and siblings
  • Ongoing review of impact on attendance and outcomes for young people

The committee acknowledged the hard work that has gone into developing the protocol and expressed their hope that it will make a difference to the lives of children and young people in Islington.