York parents fined £1800 following prolonged unauthorised school absences

Three York parents have been handed court fines this month after City of York Council took action following their children’s poor attendance at school.

The prosecution was heard by York Magistrates and followed numerous attempts by the authority and schools to engage the parents to give the children the education to which they are entitled.

In all cases, the parents had failed to provide the schools with acceptable reasons for much of their children’s absence and the schools had therefore marked the absence as unauthorised.

The prosecuted parents had, prior to court, failed to engage with the schools and local authority to support their children’s attendance and had also been issued with a fine as an alternative to prosecution. They had not paid it, prompting the council to prosecute.

All three parents were ordered to pay fines ranging between £131 to £660.

Maxine Squire, Assistant Director of Education and Skills at City of York Council, said: “We want all children to receive a great education and benefit from the rich opportunities and high quality of education that are provided by our schools, and working with families and schools to promote and maintain good attendance is vital in achieving this.

“We will always attempt to engage with parents to avoid further loss of a child’s education before we prosecute. This is used as last resort in order to ensure that children receive the education to which they are entitled.”

School attendance in York above regional and national averages

New figures published last week (22 March 2018) for the past academic year show that attendance at York schools is higher than regional and national averages.

The data shows that attendance at City of York Schools is 95.6% which compares to the overall attendance at schools nationally of 95.3% and regionally of 95.1%.

The Department for Education also released data regarding the number of pupils they regard as persistent absentees (any pupil missing 10% or more of their possible sessions). This data shows that the number of pupils who are regarded as persistent absentees is significantly lower in City of York at 9.8% as opposed to the national figure of 10.8% and the regional figure of 11.9%.

Department for Education research shows that for all pupils, as their overall absence increases their attainment decreases. The end of Key Stage 2 tests show that pupils with no absence are more than three times more likely to achieve a level 5 or above than pupils absent for 10-15% of their sessions. Similarly at the end of Key Stage 4, when pupils sit their GCSE exams, pupils with no absence are more than twice as likely to achieve 5 or more GCSEs at grades A*-C.
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York schools’ attendance is among UK’s highest

Attendance at City of York Council’s schools for 2013-2014 continues to be amongst the very best nationally, according to figures released by the Department for Education (DfE), with York returning the UK’s lowest number of persistent absentees for primary schools.

Data published on Friday 26 March for the first five half terms of 2013-14, shows that York is the UK’s joint second best-performing local authority for primary school attendance at 96.7%. City of York Council primary schools also had the joint lowest numbers nationally for persistent absentees at 1.3%.

This excellent performance was also reflected in secondary schools with attendance at 95.4%, placing York in the 20 top-performing local authorities out of 150 councils. The percentage of pupils in secondary schools regarded as persistent absentees was City of York Council’s lowest since records began with only 4.6% counting as persistent absentees.

Currently any pupil who is absent for 15% or more of their sessions is regarded as a persistent absentee, however from September 2015 this will change so that pupils with absence of 10% or more will count as a persistent absentee.

Pupils who miss between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of school tend to have lower attainment levels than average, with only 35 per cent achieving five A* to C GCSEs, including English and maths.

Jon Stonehouse, Director of Children’s Services, Education and Skills at City of York Council, said: “The work of teaching staff, police and council partners in the health sector as well as parental commitment all contribute to this excellent outcome which helps ensure that children overcome any barriers to attendance and have access to a good education. I would encourage any parent concerned about issues that they feel may lead to their child missing lessons to contact their school straight away.”