Pupil Connect is the principal referral point for lost pupils. The team maintains the “Missing Children” database and is responsible for attempting to trace all children referred via regular contacts with all City schools, other key stakeholders such as Social Services, Health, and Housing etc. and through our extended relationship with authorised representatives from other UK Local Authorities.

Currently we manage to trace approximately 70% of all children referred, which clearly leaves a proportion unaccounted for. However, the DfES recognises that this is a national problem and the situation should be improved by the introduction of a nationally agreed Unique Pupil Number (UPN) and a national protocol for reporting and tracing lost pupils, plus the increased take up of the DfES “Lost Pupil Database”.