How to conduct a Parent Contract Meeting (PCM) Length: 1.5 – 2 hours
Presented by Deborah Howard, Gianni Fasulo and Lauren Granger
This interactive webinar aims to provide participants with the opportunity to learn new skills and develop best practice for conducting Parent Contract Meetings (PCMs). PCMs form part of the early intervention process for monitoring attendance and are a mandatory offer for schools to parents when considering referrals for non-attendance to the Local Authority.
We will provide guidance on how to engage with parents, as well as topics for discussion, which are required for the implementing of legal sanctions and successful prosecutions.
New features of this webinar for 2023-24:
- Analysis of what constitutes a prosecution period versus a monitoring period
- Interactive quizzes
- Whole-group discussion on custom non-attendance scenarios
- New ‘Smart Survey’ to provide us with feedback.
- Access to a recording of the webinar via our YouTube channel for attendees
Target Audience: All School Attendance Officers/Leads, any members of staff who may chair a PCM.
Thursday 8th February 2024 – 1:30pm – 3:30pm
Friday 8th March 2024 – 10:00am – 12:00pm
Thursday 28th March 2024 – 10:00am – 12:00pm
Understanding and Analysing Attendance Data (1.5 hour)
This webinar will provide guidance on how to collect and interpret both whole school data and that pertaining to vulnerable groups. Outlining how this can be used to identify trends and patterns concerning Attendance as part of short- and long-term planning, which form part of the key aspect of an OFSTED inspection.
Target Audience: Attendance Leads, Senior Leadership Team.
- Wednesday 31st January 2024 - 10am
Child Employment (1 hour)
This pre-recorded webinar will outline the legal framework pertaining to secondary school pupils entering into employment whilst still of statuary school age. School and Cambridgeshire County Council work closely together to ensure that pupils participating in employment are safeguarded and the prevention of child exploitation. Providing information concerning the legislation, work permits and employment sweeps.
Target Audience: Newly appointed and experienced School Attendance Officers and Leads. YR 10 & 11 Leadership
Video link to be added in due course.
Managing School Attendance (2 Hours)
This training is available to support schools' attendance personnel to fulfil and manage the attendance processes in accordance with the Working Together to Improve School Attendance DfE Guidance and CCC best practice guidelines.
This webinar will cover guidance on education law and the child's right to a full-time education.
Provide an understanding of the expectations from the Local Authority regarding the school's practice of monitoring attendance. Provide best practice guidance in the recording and monitoring of whole school attendance including analysing of school attendance data.
The attendance team encourages ALL school attendance personnel to attend this training to support best practices and school attendance knowledge following the publication of the Working Together to Improve School Attendance Guidance, which is likely to become statutory as of September 2022.
Target Audience: Newly appointed and experienced School Attendance Officers/ Leads and Senior Leadership Team.
Next training date to be confirmed.
Link to Webinar on Youtube:
Utilising Legal Sanctions (1 hour)
As absence is so often a symptom of wider issues a family is facing, schools, trusts and local authorities should always work together with other local partners to understand the barriers to attendance and provide support. Where that is not successful, or is not engaged with, the law protects pupils’ right to an education and provides a range of legal interventions to formalise attendance improvement efforts, and where all other avenues have been exhausted, enforce it through prosecuting parents.
This webinar explains the different sanctions available and how in certain circumstances they can be used as a tool for changing parents behaviour surrounding attendance. This webinar will also outline the steps taken after a school referral has been received and the process used by both CCC and the magistrate courts.
Target Audience: Newly appointed and experienced School Attendance Officers/ Leads and Senior Leadership Team.
Video link to be added in due course.
Children Missing Education (1.5 hours)
Children missing education are children of compulsory school age who are not registered pupils at a school and are not receiving suitable education otherwise than at a school. Children missing education are at significant risk of underachieving, being victims of harm, exploitation, or radicalisation.
Effective information sharing between parents, schools and local authorities is critical to ensuring that all children of compulsory school age are safe and receiving suitable education.
This webinar will assist participants to increase their understanding of children missing education, expectations from both schools and the Local Authorities, as well as examples of good practice.
This webinar aims to help participants identify children missing education promptly and feel confident when making referrals to the Local Authority.
Target Audience: Newly appointed and experienced School Attendance Officers/ Leads and Senior Leadership Team.
Video link to be added in due course.
How to support Military families (1.5 hour)
Following the expanding number of pupils from a military background arriving within Cambridgeshire, this webinar outlines the positive examples of how to support military families, where to signpost, how to access existing support within the community and funding. A guest speaker from the Military Covenant will be presenting at this event, to discuss how services are working closely together to support families.
Target Audience: Newly appointed and experienced SENCO’s, Senior Leadership Team, Pastoral & School Attendance Officers
- Dates to be arranged
Young Carers (1.5 hours)
The Young Carers Webinar in support of Centre 33 Young Carers Project Workers, to identify and support young people facing personal challenges. The Webinar will include requirements from school in supporting the young people who have been identified as providing care to family member which may be a barrier to education.
This joint enterprise with the Young Carers Project Workers provides an insight to how school can support young carers and what resources are available to assist the schools with this task.
Our growing numbers of young cares need our support.
- Dates to be arranged
This webinar focuses on how pupil voice can be captured as part of the early intervention process for supporting school attendance, providing affordable examples and the opportunity to refresh your thinking.
Target Audience: Newly appointed and experienced School Attendance Officers and Leads.
- Dates to be arranged
