Ms Angela Bumster:

I will give the Ladybird version of the reduced school day for the benefit of those who do not have the Deputy's vast experience of our sector. The reduced school day, or RSD as we know it, is a transitionary arrangement that should be put in place only in exceptional, very limited and time-bound circumstances, and only with the consent of the parent or guardian of the child. It is designed to help a student to attend for some part of the school day along with his or her peers when it is not possible to attend in a full-time capacity. If used appropriately, the reduced school day can be a positive intervention with the intention of assisting a student to return to full-time attendance. For example, it can be to support a child returning to school after a long period of absence or school refusal, or support a child who, due to a medical condition, is just not able to stay at school for a full day. It is also based on the individual needs of the student.

The number of children on a reduced school day in the last year was 1,275, or 13% of the student population. This represented an increase of 22%, from 1,044, on the proportion of the previous year, which represented 11% of the student population. The main reason for the increase was improved reporting by the schools. Tusla did considerable work on letting schools know the requirements and guidelines. We had increased reporting, but there was also an increase in anxiety among kids. We are seeing a lot of school refusal. The main reasons that Tusla reports to me have been indicated on the forms relate to children transitioning from primary to post-primary level, school refusal, chronic absenteeism, medical issues, mental health issues, and dysregulation or stress in a school situation, meaning the child is just not able to manage a full school day. A plan is put in place with the school and the parent to increase attendance incrementally. In an ideal world, a child would be back within six weeks. If a child is not back within six weeks, the school has to go into the portal and notify the authorities again. That is an aspect that was missing in the previous reports. Tusla has really hammered that home with the schools to remind them they have to report again after six weeks. This is why our reports show the numbers of second, third and fourth instances have increased. I suspect they probably did not increase on the ground but that the reporting is getting better.

We admit that we have a bit to do on the reports. We have three reports published at this stage and we can see from them that we do not have very pure information on the reasons for reduced school days. The portal where the school keys in the information has a text box and it is difficult to pull out valuable data from that. From September, we are changing the portal so there will be a drop-down box. At least we will then be able to categorise the reasons. I hope I will be able to come back to the members in a year or other period to give them more information on the reasons. They are difficult to capture at the minute.