Making School Unmissable starts with a simple question: how do we make school somewhere young people actually want to be?
With attendance and engagement such big issues for schools, the book argues that we need to think beyond rules and sanctions. Here are 17 of the main ideas.
- Make school worth turning up for
We spend a lot of time talking about attendance. The bigger question is whether pupils feel there is something worth attending for.
- Give learning a purpose
Pupils are more likely to engage when they understand why something matters. Sometimes we need to explain the point rather than just start teaching it.
- Think about the pupils who aren’t convinced
Not every child arrives at school believing education is important. Schools need to win over the pupils who are most doubtful about it.
- Help pupils feel they belong
Feeling part of a school matters. Pupils need to feel known, included and wanted.
- Notice who is on the outside
Some pupils can go through a school day almost unnoticed. We need to look for the children who don’t yet feel part of things.
- Relationships can change attendance
A pupil knowing that a teacher will notice whether they are there can make more difference than we sometimes realise.
- Give every pupil a chance to succeed
If school feels like six hours of being reminded that you aren’t very good at things, it’s easy to understand why you might stop wanting to go.
- Success doesn’t have to mean being top
Getting better matters. A pupil beating their own previous score can be just as important as beating everyone else.
- Make progress visible
Children don’t always notice that they are improving. Teachers can help them see how far they have come.
- Don’t remove every difficulty
Making school enjoyable doesn’t mean making everything easy. Challenge, mistakes and setbacks are part of learning too.
- Give pupils some say
Young people are more likely to care about a community when they feel their opinions are listened to.
- Give them real responsibility
Pupil leadership works best when it involves genuine responsibility rather than simply giving someone a badge.
- Make room for curiosity
Not everything at school needs to be about the next assessment. There should still be space for questions, discovery and trying something different.
- Create things pupils don’t want to miss
A great experiment, trip, visitor, competition, performance or project can give pupils another reason to want to be in school.
- Don’t treat enrichment as an extra
Clubs, sport, music, drama, trips and other activities can be central to a pupil’s experience of school rather than something added on afterwards.
- Remember the adults too
A school needs to feel worthwhile for staff and families as well as pupils. Belonging, purpose and feeling valued matter to everyone.
- Make school compelling, not just compulsory
This is probably the idea that stays with you most. We can tell children that they have to attend school, but the bigger challenge is creating a school they feel they would genuinely miss.
Making School Unmissable: Schooling that Makes Sense is written by Rachel Macfarlane and Paul Jenkins and published by Crown House Publishing.
Buy on Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Making+School+Unmissable+Rachel+Macfarlane+Paul+Jenkins
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