Tough Line to Get Children Back in School

By LAUREN TURNER South Wales Echo

A city with one of the worst truancy records in Wales has launched an action plan to get children back to school. Cardiff’s crackdown will use the latest technology to keep track of pupils. It aims to speed up prosecutions against parents, carry out regular truancy sweeps, tackle the causes as well as introduce a scheme to reward attendance.

A tough line will also be taken against ethnic minority families who take children out of school for months at a time without informing the school.

These parents will be asked to sign contracts with the school agreeing to give notice of any planned absences to attend religious festivals such as Hajj at Mecca or ‘heritage’ visits to see family in other countries.

These children face being kicked out of school if they do not return to school on the agreed date.

Truancy Tsar Norman Cooke, who is leading the Missing Education Missing Out strategy, said one of the most important aims is to ensure children and families understand the value of education in terms of lifelong learning.

Research shows there is a link between school attendance and academic performance. A study of 30,000 16-year-old truants found they were much less likely to be successful in their GCSEs and as a result struggled to find work.

Addressing the council’s children and young people scrutiny committee, Mr Cooke said: ‘The impact of non-attendance is huge, both for the individual and in economic terms for the city. We want to raise awareness of the importance of school attendance and engage with parents so they are aware of their responsibilities.’

The three-year truancy action plan aims to:

Enable all schools to monitor and report on attendance using electronic registration

Boost attendance by more than three per cent to 93 per cent in secondary schools

Work to speed up the legal process and promote the link between a child’s actions and the consequences to them for failing to engage in education

Launch a high-profile campaign on the importance of high school attendance

Investigate different models of re-engaging young people.