An Oldham academy where children are "running to school because their education is so good" has been praised by the Children’s Commissioner for England.
Dame Rachel de Souza visited The Brian Clarke Church of England Academy last week, where she was given a tour by Headteacher Allison Ash and Year 9 pupils.
During her visit, she talked to pupils about their favourite subjects and met staff from departments including art, German, maths, science and religious studies.
Dame Rachel, whose role as Children’s Commissioner sees her promote and protect the rights of children, was visiting the borough due to the "trailblazing" work being done to boost school attendance rates in the borough.
She praised The Brian Clarke Academy, saying: “It’s a brand-new school full of students bubbling with enthusiasm. These young people are running to school because their education is so good, and I’m very pleased to be here in Oldham today.
“One of my Youth Ambassadors is from Oldham and told me I had to come. Oldham is trailblazing in helping kids get back to school after lockdown and the council is doing some amazing work, so I’ve come to talk to the councillors today to see how they’re making a difference to young people’s lives.”
Mrs Ash said: “We’re celebrating everything around attendance here at Brian Clarke. We feel that we’re doing a great job for the local community for our young people and it’s wonderful to be able to showcase that.”
In Oldham, attendance rates in primary schools rose from 93.5 per cent in 2022/23 to 94.3 per cent in 2023/24, while in secondary schools, the attendance rate has gone up to 91.7 per cent from 90.5 per cent the previous year.
Meanwhile, the persistent absence rate, which is when 10 per cent or more of all available sessions, has fallen from 19.2 to 16.7 per cent in primary schools and from 25.6 to 23.5 per cent in secondary schools.
Dame Rachel then attended a reception in the Oldham Council Mayor’s Parlour to celebrate the successful work across the borough in improving rates of attendance through data analysis, communications and multi-agency partnership work following the Covid pandemic.
She also met with leading councillors to discuss The Brian Clarke Academy as a valuable addition to the borough, the council’s pride in raising attendance and pupil outcomes and commitment to supporting improvement.
Council leader Arooj Shah was recently appointed Lead Member for Children and Young People at the Local Government Association, which she said she is "very proud" to have taken up.
Cllr Shah said: "I’m proud to say we’re the first local authority across Greater Manchester that introduced the twice a year penalties if you take your children out of school.
"We don’t do that because we want to be seen as being tough, it’s about getting parents to understand the importance of education and attendance in schools."
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