Government’s strategy on truancy…..
…is failing; fining parents has failed to reduce truancy, new research by the Liberal Democrats has revealed. Over 35,000 parents have been fined for condoning their children’s absence in the last three years, whilst truancy has increased by the equivalent of over 2 million school days since 2005.
Commenting on the nationwide truancy problem, Liberal Democrat Shadow Children, Schools and Families Secretary, David Laws said:
“The Government’s strategy to tackle truancy is failing. Despite prosecuting more parents, the truancy rate in our schools is continuing to rise.
“These figures further highlight how bizarre it is for a Government that can’t even get a decent attendance level for 15-16 year olds to be expecting all young people up to the age of 18 to be in compulsory education.
“Parents need to take responsibility for their children’s behaviour and they have an obligation to ensure they attend school.
“However, a community-wide approach involving parents, police and local welfare officers would be much more effective than the current top-down measures pursued by ministers.”
I am happy to tell you that the rate of truancy at The Manor School has dropped and attendance figures have improved slightly. The installation of a new system, Truancy Call, has been most useful in helping to combat truancy and alerting school, parents and carers to the absence of pupils.
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