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More than 900 children in Lancashire are not currently receiving “a suitable education”, figures have revealed.
Lancashire County Council says the majority of the youngsters are within the admissions system and active attempts are being made to find them a school place.
As of December 2024, there were 914 children missing from education – a figure which does not include those officially being home-schooled. The tally also excludes pupils in the Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen council areas.
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A county council cabinet meeting heard that some of those not on the school roll have only recently arrived in the county – with a number even being new to the country – but an exact breakdown was not given.
A report by the authority’s executive director of education and children’s services, Jacqui Old, stated that targeted support was being provided in “hotspot areas” where there were significant numbers of families who are new to the UK – namely, Preston, Burnley and Pendle.
“[It] is now well established and providing invaluable assistance to parents with school applications, appeals and signposting to other services,” Ms. Old wrote.
She added that work was continuing to increase capacity in schools in those parts of Lancashire where demand “may be causing a delay in admissions for children missing education”.
The county council’s target is to have fewer than 700 children in that category – and cabinet member for education and skills Jayne Rear said the authority was “not an outlier” with its current challenges when compared to others. She also stressed that the proportion of children not getting an education in the county amounted to 0.1 percent of the school-age population.
However, Labour’s deputy opposition group leader Jennifer Mein said the scale of the problem was “really worrying”.
“In the current climate, where there [are] concerns about safeguarding and Prevent [the government’s anti-terror programme]…it makes it even more important that we can account for all of the children in this county,” County Cllr Mein said.
Prevent has recently been under spotlight after it emerged the Southport killer, Axel Rudakabana, had been referred to the service three times before his rampage in which he murdered three young girls last summer.
County Cllr Rear said County Hall’s missing-in-education team had been dealing with a “high” number of cases since the start of the academic year, meaning it would be difficult to bring about “significant redactions” to the numbers of children out of school in the short term.
“But most of these children are within the admissions system with parents engaging in the school registration process. Our services – including family hubs – are working hard to assist new-to-area families,” she explained.
Cabinet members were told 30 additional places had been negotiated for in-year admissions in three secondary schools in the Preston area – at Ashton High School, Fulwood Academy and Longridge High.
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