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Exterminate bad school attendance

7/ 5/2008

SCHOOL attendances have soared across the borough since pupils have been offered carrots – such as Dr Who cards – instead of the stick.

The number of children attending local primary and secondary schools every day has risen by 55 per cent since incentives including football tickets, gift vouchers and popular Top Trumps’ cards were introduced.

The so-called ‘Attendance Challenge’ scheme was set up at the start of the spring term by Oldham Council in conjunction with enterprise agency Motiv.

Pupils were offered treats and badges for perfect attendance in an effort to "promote positive habits and motivate them to improve their performance".

Rewards so far have included tickets to watch Oldham Athletic, music downloads for mobile phones and, for younger pupils, popular ‘Dr Who’ and ‘High School Musical’ Top Trumps’ cards.

Michelle Vaughan, the council’s school attendance improvement manager, said she has been "astonished" by the scheme’s impact.

"The figures are a lot higher than we initially estimated," she said.

Liz Wilkinson, attendance manager at Limehurst Primary, said: "It’s been a great incentive for our pupils and not only do we have more 100 per cent attendees than last year but overall attendance has increased in the school.

"The pupils are really proud of themselves and their achievements."

Oldham decided to take up the scheme after a pilot in Manchester recorded a 45 per cent increase in the number of pupils with perfect attendance.

Last month, the Institute of Education think tank also backed the idea, claiming that attention-seeking pupils find it rewarding to be told off and more effort should go into improving behaviour and attendance with rewards.

However, Oldham has made it clear to parents that the recent example of a couple in Bradford – jailed for failing to send their four children to school for almost seven months – should serve as a warning of the tough consequences for failure to ensure regular school attendance.

Michelle Vaughan said: "It is the parents’ legal responsibility to send their children to school.

"Failing to ensure regular attendance is a serious offence and can lead to a child or young person not fulfilling their educational potential and being disadvantaged when trying to apply for further education, training or employment opportunities."

Parents who fail to meet their duty risk imprisonment and a fine of up to £2,500.