Professionals - Consultation

Every Schoolday Counts consults with many of its key stakeholders to ensure the Project is providing a worthwhile service to the highest standard possible.

One of the most important and influential groups the Project consults with is children, as promoting attendance and education to children is the very essence of Every Schoolday Counts. It is vital to gain ideas and feedback from children in order to know how to engage with this target audience.

The following are just some examples of occasions when children have been involved in the decision making process for Every Schoolday Counts.

Roadshows

Families on Wearside were reminded about the importance of sending their children to school every day at two-day roadshows during late August 2003 and 2005.  The roadshows were held at The Galleries, Washington and The Bridges, Sunderland with the aim of promoting education and helping to reduce casual absence.  The events were also used as a consultation exercise so that children, young people and parents were involved in the Project's planning and service delivery.

Establishing Ideas
10 Year 6 pupils from Newbottle Primary School were consulted at the outset regarding ideas for incentives, the reasons for lateness and absence and how to prevent them happening. This assisted in determining the types of rewards and incentives the Project could use.

Establishment of Spike
In order to determine the type of mascot which would most appeal to primary aged pupils, children were asked a range of questions such as what it should look like, what would be a ‘cool’ name etc. As a result of the answers ‘Spike’ was born.

Kite Festival
Over 5,000 children and adults visited the ESC marquee at the Kite Festival in July 2003 and 2005. It was a perfect opportunity for engagement, participation and consultation. Activities on the day included designing a mate for Spike and ideas for a successful celebration event. This helped when organising the major event.

Pupil Steering Group
Every term a session is held with a group of pupils from 1 of the 24 targeted schools to discuss new ideas and gain feedback. There is also a ‘parent focus group’ held termly which encourages parents to share their views on attendance and the Project.

Recruitment & Selection of Staff
In July 2004 2 children from Shiney Row Primary were involved in the recruitment of all of the Project’s Primary Support Workers. Every Schoolday Counts thought it was important that children were involved, as these staff would be working in schools with individuals and groups.

Poem Book
All children across the City were involved in the production of a poem book about what life would be like for ‘Spike’ in school. This allowed the Project to gain an understanding of children’s likes, dislikes and ability to comment at different ages. This book was produced in full colour and given to everyone that entered.