The truth behind Hull's truancy statistics

IT IS a hotly debated issue up and down the country.

And it is of particular interest in Hull where, traditionally, more pupils than anywhere else are missing class without the consent of schools.

The authority is often criticised for what is perceived as pupils playing truant.

But officers say the statistics are misleading.

Sue Yardley, Hull City Council behaviour and attendance officer, says it is far from the case there are pupils from Hull's schools marauding the streets.

She says the bigger problem is parents allowing their children to be off school.

For the council here, the message is clear – condone your child's absence and there will be consequences.

Mrs Yardley said: "If we authorised everything, we would be in the press for having no truancy.

"But that would be creating a culture which is allowing parents to not send their children to school.

"Which is the opposite of what we want to do.

"We are very clear about that in this authority."

Mrs Yardley says looking at overall absence statistics are a much better indicator of an authority's ability to get children to school, rather than focusing on the unauthorised statistics.

She says a high authorised absence rate, like in many authorities, indicates those schools are merely masking the problem by allowing parents to keep their children from school.

It keeps the so-called truancy statistics low, and the unwanted press away.

But it does not, she says, solve the problem.

"Whether or not it is an absence which is authorised or unauthorised, it still means the child is not in school," she said.

"If we let schools authorise absence, we would make no improvement, the children still won't be in school.

"Being in school raises attainment."

If the authority had high unauthorised absence and high authorised absence, Mrs Yardley said there would be a reason to be concerned.

But she says schools in Hull are very careful about what they authorise.

She said: "They look very closely at what they will authorise.

"If they authorise an absence and it is parentally condoned, then they are not allowed to prosecute."

She said says headteachers will not automatically authorise a child's absence if they are ill.

If there are question marks over whether the child is being allowed off by a parent, then the headteacher will not authorise it.

It hits the city's so-called "truancy" figures hard. But officers are steadfast in their belief if they take a hard line with parents, it is the only way children will turn up for school.

She knows it is not the easy option, but is adamant it is the only way to improve.

"Heads know when not to authorise absences," said Mrs Yardley.

"If they are known families, they look for patterns – for example, if the child is often off Mondays or Wednesday.

"A massive amount of resources are put into this by schools.

"All kinds of people will work with the school and the young person, sometimes even picking them up to get them into school."

A parent can expect a penalty notice if their child has 20 unauthorised absences in one term, the equivalent of ten days.

It is up to the school to decide which parents to prosecute. Mrs Yardley said: "It is all about the schools knowing the families."

In the last full school year, 519 penalty notices were issued for unauthorised absence and, of those, 75 per cent of pupils improved their attendance at school.

But 149 of those parents ended up in court.

So far this year, 359 notices have been issued, 131 for unauthorised absence and 228 for holidays in term time. Of those parents, 117 have appeared in court.

Over the past six years, there has been a bigger improvement in the absence figures for Hull compared with the national picture.

It is, in part, because the city was coming from a lower starting point.

The authority is also making strides in improving the level of persistent absenteeism, which last year improved three times more than the national average.

And schools are playing their part.

Simon Witham, headteacher at Thorpepark Primary School, is one city head who has made huge strides in raising attendance.

Mr Witham has been at the school since 2007 as deputy head and was made head four years ago.

Since then, attendance has risen.

He said: "The way we do this is to engage with the parents and families and develop excellent relationships with them.

"A lot of schools are doing a lot of excellent things as well, but this works for our school.

"Our attendance team works relentlessly, they identify parents who are struggling to get their children in school and put massive support in place to help them improve their child's attendance."

Parents at the school who are condoning their child's absence will be prosecuted.

Mr Witham said: "We are relentless. The expectation is their children are in school.

"Our parents are fantastic and our children love coming to school. They run in, wanting to be there."