Children can’t learn if they aren’t in class.  The Education Welfare team are there to encourage pupils to attend school regularly and to help schools ensure that pupils arrive on time and every day.

The law is clear: parents of school-age children must ensure that they are in fulltime education. (Some families want to educate their children at home. They are legally entitled to provide schooling at home, but not without a degree of supervision from staff in the Education Department. )

Most children get to school on time, every day, unless they have a good reason to stay at home – such as illness. EWOs work with schools, families and children when difficulties arise that lead to truancy. We also carry out regular truancy sweeps to pick up children out of class during the school day and return them to their schools. It’s disappointing that many of the younger truants are out with their parents when they should be in lessons.

Parents who condone persistent truancy can be served with fixed penalty notices and taken to court if they don’t cooperate.