Contact Group respond to release of the Government's Spring truancy statistics

Aug. 24, 2011 - PRLog -- “The Government, schools and Local Authorities have implemented a range of tactics to tackle unauthorised absence in UK schools. The statistics today reveal that these tactics are working, however, also show that truancy remains an ongoing issue that must be tackled head-on, in the most efficient ways possible. Recently, the Government set more ambitious targets to deal with truancy, and it is crucial that schools consider implementing efficient systems to manage and improve their students’ attendance. Fundamentally, if students are truanting, they are not in school learning and will not achieve their full potential.

“In order to reduce absenteeism it is imperative that parents of truants are contacted on the first day of absence and all schools should consider ICT solutions to ensure that this happens. Parents should be made accountable to ensure their child attends school and contacting parents immediately whenever a child is absent from school picks up on those who are occasionally absent before they become persistent truants. In order to break this cycle, schools should look more critically at patterns in truancy before students fall into anti-social behaviour and crime. A few days of absence can turn into weeks; catching those early helps to improve overall attendance.

“Following the Government’s announcements that they will be ‘cracking down’ on truancy, schools need a systematic way of analysing truancy patterns and notifying parents when their child is absent from school. Truancy Call is the most comprehensive product on the market to address this. The system can make calls and send text messages on their behalf, in order to alert parents immediately and catch potentially persistent truants early before it gets serious.”

For more information about the statistical release, please click here to access the spring term statistics released by the DfE.

For more information about Contact Group, please visit: www.the-contactgroup.com

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