Oldham Local Education Authority (LEA) is concerned about any child or young person who is missing from education, as it may not only be their educational attainment that is at risk, but also potentially their safety and welfare.
Who are Children Missing Education (CME)?
Children of compulsory school age who are:
- not on a school roll;
- not being educated other than at school e.g. privately or in alternative provision; and
- identified as having been out of any educational provision for a substantial period of time (usually agreed as four weeks or more).
Why do children go missing from education?
There are a number of ways in which a child can fall out of educational provision and hence become missing. These include if a child:
- fails to start appropriate provision and hence never enters the system;
- ceases to attend, due to exclusion (e.g. illegal unofficial exclusions) or withdrawal; or
- fails to complete a transition between providers (e.g. being unable to find a suitable school place after moving to a new LEA).
There are also a number of other more serious circumstances by which a child could go also missing from education, and as a result all children and young people who go missing from education in Oldham are deemed to be at risk. A child missing education could be a missing child.
Oldham Council has a Children Missing Education policy document, which is available via the following download:
Identifying Children Missing Education
To limit the opportunity of children and young people becoming lost to the education system, Oldham LEA has established a Pupil Tracking Team in order to:
- locate, monitor and track all school aged children who are not on a school roll;
- act as a link with other statutory bodies and universal services to ensure that all children missing education are promptly identified and re-engaged with educational provision;
- implement a range of systematic processes and procedures to track potentially vulnerable children who leave the borough with an unknown destination.