Truants 'missing a month a year' (From Daily Echo)
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Hampshire and Southampton truants 'missing a month's schooling a year'
11:10am Thursday 18th October 2012 in Education
By Jon Reeve, Education Reporter
Truants 'missing a month a year'
THOUSANDS of children across Southampton and Hampshire are missing the equivalent of a month of school each year, new figures have revealed.
Nearly 9,000 youngsters in the city and county are classed as “persistently absent” based on statistics from spring and last autumn.
Only three places in the country had higher levels of truancy than Southampton during the two terms, where 1,758 primary and secondary school pupils missed at least 15 per cent of lessons.
In Hampshire, more than 7,000 children repeatedly failed to attend classes.
Experts warn the work youngsters miss out on when they aren’t in school is never made up, leaving them seriously disadvantaged throughout their education.
Charlie Taylor, the Government’s adviser on behaviour in schools, said: “Quickly these children begin to fall behind their friends and often fail to fill in gaps in their skills or knowledge – sometimes in basics like reading or writing. Over time these pupils can become bored and disillusioned with education.
These pupils are lost to the system, and can fall into antisocial behaviour and crime.”
Virtually one in ten of Southampton’s secondary school pupils missed 15 per cent of lessons or more during the two terms – significantly higher than the national average.
Department for Education statistics show levels of authorised absence in Southampton and Hampshire are similar to the rates for England as a whole.
But the amount of time off without prior permission is much greater in Southampton than in the county and nationally.
At primary level, 1.1 per cent of lessons at city schools are missed without authorisation, against 0.4 per cent in Hampshire.
And in secondary schools, Southampton pupils failed to attend 1.6 per cent of classes without permission, compared to 0.7 per cent of county children.
But the absence rates are improving, and Southampton’s education boss Cllr Sarah Bogle last night said she believes the picture will continue to get better.
She said: “Schools are working very hard with parents to improve school attendance and overall attendance is improving.
“While disappointed that more progress has not been made, we are confident future years will show the levels of improvement we all want to see.”
Hampshire’s schools chief, Councillor Roy Perry, said he was pleased absence rates were falling.
He said: “Hampshire schools work hard to ensure that pupils attend school and that any problems are addressed quickly so that parents are aware and to avoid bad habits starting.”
Comments(17)
MisterGrimsdale
says...
11:26am Thu 18 Oct 12
freefinker
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11:59am Thu 18 Oct 12
MisterGrimsdale wrote:.. the apostrophe you will find on the same key as the @ sign – i.e. immediately to the right of the colon/semi-colon key you keep hitting in error.
Well my kids didn;t go to school for a month last year and it didn;t do them any harm. Mind you it was august.
MGRA
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12:03pm Thu 18 Oct 12
Higginz
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12:42pm Thu 18 Oct 12
Vote Higginz.
localnews
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1:02pm Thu 18 Oct 12
dankarhomes
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1:06pm Thu 18 Oct 12
dankarhomes
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1:06pm Thu 18 Oct 12
TurquoiseJ
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4:42pm Thu 18 Oct 12
100%HANTSBOY
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4:57pm Thu 18 Oct 12
MGRA wrote:Very true,but it's not always the kids that want to miss school,it's the useless parents keeping them at home to keep them company whilst they watch Jeremy Kyle!
they are better off roaming. the alternative is them disrupting others who want to learn. The majority of truants are no-hopers way past any help. The only way they will turn around is once they decide to do it for themselves..
cantthinkofone
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6:00pm Thu 18 Oct 12
So why aren't the frequent "inset" days for 'teacher training and communication' held during the school holidays?
SaintM
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6:06pm Thu 18 Oct 12
mickey01
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6:40pm Thu 18 Oct 12
dankarhomes wrote:since when did holidays become more important than education ??
These figures would come down if Holiday firms and Arline firms stopped ripping parents off with over inflated prices during school holidays.
jonnyx
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6:42pm Thu 18 Oct 12
cantthinkofone wrote:do you have to go into work 1 or 2 days a year* during your actual annual leave for compulsory training?
Schools are quite rightly very strict about absences.
So why aren't the frequent "inset" days for 'teacher training and communication' held during the school holidays?
* i've reduced the number of days from 5 as you probably don't have the same annual leave entitlement as teachers - so it's pro rata
mickey01
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6:42pm Thu 18 Oct 12
MGRA wrote:from my experience the disruptive ones who are sent to a so called "special school" dont have to wear unifrom and are on a flexi rota i guess thats teaching them (not )
they are better off roaming. the alternative is them disrupting others who want to learn. The majority of truants are no-hopers way past any help. The only way they will turn around is once they decide to do it for themselves..
Huffter
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6:53pm Thu 18 Oct 12
dankarhomes wrote:Holiday firms don't increase their prices during school holidays - they reduce them during the remainder of the year when demand is not so high.
These figures would come down if Holiday firms and Arline firms stopped ripping parents off with over inflated prices during school holidays.
peenut81
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1:14pm Fri 19 Oct 12
mickey01 says...
11:22am Thu 18 Oct 12