Miss school miss out says ESCC

Launched by the County Council's Education Welfare Service, the new campaign which includes a series of radio adverts, is targeting children in the county who, for whatever reason, are missing school.

It is just one part of the work being carried out by education welfare officers to increase school attendance and ensure that all young people in the county get the education that is so essential to their future life opportunities.

Cllr David Elkin, the County Council's Lead Member for Learning and School Effectiveness said: "We run a number of positive initiatives with schools to reduce absence and encourage school attendance. We also work closely with families where school absence is a problem and, as a last resort, we will prosecute parents if they refuse to co-operate with us to tackle a problem."

But he added the latest campaign was different in that it is targeting the small number of children who are not in school at all.

He said: "It is likely to be a very small number, and there may be valid reasons, but we do know there are children out there who are not attending school at all. For a variety of reasons, and probably mainly that they have moved into the county and not notified us, they may have slipped through our net so we've not had the chance to work with their families.

"East Sussex is no different from any other county in this respect and we are taking a very proactive approach to reaching these young people. It's vitally important we ensure they get the learning they have a right to and need. We all know how important an education is to our future life chances and opportunities and as a council we have a duty to ensure that every school age child receives a suitable education."

The adverts use a variety of scenarios to highlight the issue and will encourage people to contact the Education Welfare team, strictly in confidence, to report concerns they have about a particular young person.

Cllr Elkin added: "Thankfully the vast majority of our young people are in school and through their learning are building the foundations for their future. But we mustn't let any child miss out on life's opportunities."

Anyone with any concerns about a child or young person out of school should log onto www.childoutofschool.com which will direct them to the East Sussex County Council website. They can fill in a confidential form or ring an education welfare officer on 01273 481134 for a confidential conversation.