Background 

Stirling is a relatively affluent authority with 28.2% of its children living in Quintile 5 and 15.5% living in quintile 1. The proportion of children living in low-income families varies across areas. Stirling has 31 early childcare and learning settings, 38 primary schools, 7 secondary schools, 1 special school and 7 additional support needs (ASN) provisions within schools. 

Rationale 

Eighteen schools currently use Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) to employ staff focused on improving links between families and schools. Their aim is to improve children’s engagement in learning. These staff have various job titles including home link worker/officer, health and wellbeing officer, family link worker, etc. 

Evaluation of PEF plans and Standards and Quality Reports in 2018-19 highlighted varying confidence in measuring improvements supported by these officers. In addition, all officers worked in relative isolation with varying opportunities to access professional learning and dialogue with colleagues in similar roles.  

The development of a family link network was discussed with headteachers and these staff. All agreed it could be beneficial. The purpose of the network was to support professional learning and a space for staff to make connections across schools.  

The family link network involves staff supporting primary and secondary schools, across both urban and rural areas of the authority. The group meet every 6-8 weeks, with a regular cohort of 8 to 10 staff, representing 8 to 9 schools. 

One of the main areas supported over the past five years has been developing confidence and capacity to use data for improvement, to ensure staff are supporting children and families effectively.  

Attainment Scotland Funding 

Strategic Equity Funding and Pupil Equity Funding; Over £50,000  

What Stirling Council did

The authority SAC lead and attainment advisor (AA) worked alongside the family link network to develop curiosity and confidence in using data for improvement. Several approaches have been tried over the last five years, with some being more successful than others. These have included: 

Developing a report which family link workers can access on SEEMIS. This allows them to track attendance data easily. Support was also provided at networks on how to use this data effectively in their role. Almost all officers now use this report. 

Using PEF plans to develop a shared set of four outcomes which all staff were working towards. Staff were provided with an excel spreadsheet to input data to support the analysis of timekeeping, attendance, referrals to other services and improved links with school. There was varying confidence in using excel and some staff reported it was time consuming. Some also felt it did not collect information that was useful to them. It was agreed an alternative approach to collating data was required. 

The AA worked alongside a small group of family link staff to consider data, how they could use data to improve outcomes for children and the most accessible ways to measure this. The AA then developed a series of data templates in response , with the small group providing feedback. These were piloted by a number of staff and rolled out to the network. This has been successful as evidenced by the impact data that staff have been able to collate. 

Impact 

In the recent request for data to be collated centrally (August – December 2024), eight of the schools returned their data, involving twelve family link staff from five primary and three secondary schools. The collated data highlighted the following impact: 

Two schools reported on their work supporting attendance. Between August and October 2023, 116 children and young people were supported, with 44% of children’s attendance increasing, 26% being maintained and 30% decreasing. 

Four schools provided information on 49 case studies. Many referrals were due to concerns around attendance, limited engagement and behaviour. One secondary school was able to describe wider curriculum opportunities and how this had improved two thirds of the targeted group’s attendance at school. Comments from young people included: 

“I will come to school when I know I am going mountain biking” 

“It makes me want to be here”  

“I pushed myself out of my comfort zone” 

“I now know what to do when I leave school” 

A number of small group programmes were offered for children and young people including ‘Resilient Kids’, health and wellbeing groups, sporting activities and breakfast and lunch clubs. Two schools described how 45 children, affected by poverty, regularly access their breakfast clubs with children commenting: 

“I never get to eat breakfast at home” 

“I like seeing everyone in the morning, I feel happier” 

Three schools supported families at Christmas, ensuring 99 children received Christmas gifts. The impact of the cost of living on families is clear in feedback from parents regarding this support, “I’ve always managed Christmas, this year I have nothing. My money’s been cut and I’ve had other bills to pay.” 

Referrals were made to 23 various organisations and services for children and families by six schools. The majority of referrals were for food banks, school clothing banks, play services and support to access bus pass applications (68%). 

Impact of the network

Each year, the AA measures the impact of the AA role. In the 2022-23 survey comments from family link workers included:

“I now have a greater understanding of data and of what to collect and what it means. This has led me to look at it in-depth and then review and make any necessary changes to bring about success.”  

“The network allows lots of networking, which in turn allows knowledge sharing and opportunities for training.”  

Feedback from headteachers has confirmed the impact of the network’s data support, with one headteacher commenting on increased staff confidence to measure impact and use data for improvement purposes. She also advised that she asks for specific data templates to be completed by other third sector organisations who work in her school.