Bridgend County Borough Council has updated its school attendance policy in support of its ‘Miss School, Miss Out’ campaign and to bring it in line with the latest national guidance from Welsh Government.
Under the new policy, parents and carers who take pupils out of school without authorisation to go on holidays during term time will be issued with an automatic penalty.
In situations where pupils are persistently late for school or have been absent for five school days in succession – the equivalent of ten morning and afternoon sessions – the council’s Education Engagement Team will issue written warnings to advise that penalties are under consideration.
Warning letters will also be issued in situations where parents and carers have failed to engage with attempts to improve a pupil’s attendance, or where a pupil has regularly come to the attention of police due to truancy.
Parents and carers will have 15 days to respond to a warning letter and provide evidence justifying the pupil’s absence (for example, for medical reasons). Before any penalties are issued, the Education Engagement Team will consider a pupil’s personal circumstances as well as looking at factors such as whether they have additional learning needs and the likely impact of a fine will be on the family unit.
Councillor Martyn Jones, Cabinet Member for Education and Youth Services, said: “Parents and carers have a legal responsibility to make sure that children attend school, and our education welfare officers will always work with local families to offer a range of help and support them in doing this.
“Issuing penalties is always a last resort, and the Education Engagement Team fully understands that there will be occasions where a child cannot attend school for sound reasons. However, it is vitally important to speak to the school about this as early as possible.
“I cannot emphasise just how important it is to maintain regular school attendance. It all adds up, so a pupil who is late by just 15 minutes every day for a year will end up missing out on the equivalent of two full weeks of learning, while a pupil who has 80 per cent overall attendance will have missed the equivalent of an entire year of school.
“I am pleased to see that local school attendance statistics have improved since we launched our ‘Miss School, Miss Out’ campaign, and the introduction of an easy to understand traffic light system has helped us to raise attendance levels above the Welsh average.
“With the full co-operation of parents and carers under the updated policy, we can offer our children the very best start in life possible, so I hope that we will all be able to work together to deliver this.”
