District council emphasizes importance of regular school attendance

AS SCHOOLS look set to welcome pupils back to classrooms for the new academic year next week, Worcestershire County Council is stressing the importance of regular school attendance.

The results show that children who miss the first few days of the school year for unauthorized reasons are expected to have a higher overall absence rate of around 43 percent – the equivalent of 30 days over the entire school year.

At the turn of the year, the Department for Education (DfE) published new statutory guidance for schools and local authorities which recognises that some young people find it more difficult to attend school than others.

The document, entitled 'Working together to improve school attendance', recommends that schools should work with students and parents to reduce barriers to school attendance by building strong and trusting relationships to provide the right support.

The DfE recognises that some pupils face greater barriers to accessing education. These include those with long-term physical or mental health conditions or those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The guidelines recognise that they have the same right to education as all other pupils and that therefore the same objectives in relation to school attendance should be pursued for these pupils as for all other pupils, but they may need to be provided with additional support.

Councillor David Chambers, Worcestershire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education, said: “Regular school attendance is vital to supporting a child’s learning, wellbeing and development.

“We recognise that attending school can be challenging for some children. In these cases, we work closely with the school to help parents and guardians remove any barriers that prevent their child from attending school regularly.

“Any parent or guardian whose child is having difficulty attending class due to problems at school or at home should first speak to their child’s school.”

For attendance enquiries, please call the Worcestershire County Council Attendance Line on 01905 844 440 between 9am and 4.30pm every day during term time.

For more information visit worcestershire.gov.uk.