Context
School attendance in Newcastle was an area of concern for Newcastle City Council. As this is a whole systems issue with a range of people who have a part to play in improving the levels of school attendance, research with schools, families, communities and wider partners was needed to explore the reasons why some children and young people were not attending school regularly.
Action
The HDRC research team gathered rich, qualitative insights from 67 participants across six schools and wider partners using focus groups, interviews, surveys and policy analysis. They trialled a rapid qualitative method to analyse and code the data into seven themes and built in validity checks to ensure robustness.
Result
The work produced four tailored outputs - a technical report, a qualitative report, a summary and a child‑friendly illustrated booklet - each offering practical recommendations for families, schools and partners. Final sign‑off is underway, with plans to publish the materials and share printed child-friendly reports with participating schools and families.