Truancy
What is truancy?
Turancy is when a young person intentionally does not attend school, and absences themselves from school without good reason.
What possible reasons could a child have for truanting?
There are quite a few reasons why a child would choose to truant. It could be because they are finding school difficult. That could be for many different reasons. It could be socially, it could be in terms of learning, it could be in terms of particular classes and teachers. It could be because they don't feel properly equipped for school. All of these reasons would explain why they have chosen to truant. It could also be factors outside of the school. The influence of friends who do not attend school or activities that they are choosing to engage in as opposed to their education.
My child's school says they truant regularly, what should I do?
This is a very serious issue, and you do have to do something. First of all, get as much information as possible. You may well need to involve people outside of the school, if they're not already involved, such as the education welfare officer. What you've got to do is research the reasons for which your child is not attending school, and those could be many and varied. You need to understand what's going on so that you can correct whatever is not right for your child, so that they are able to attend school, because when all's said and done, apart from missing their education they are then vulnerable to other dangers by not being in school.
Is it my responsibility to make sure my child attends school?
Yes, as parent it is your legal responsibility to make sure that your child attends school. If you not, you are then likely to be subject to a fine or in the worst case scenario even imprisonment. It's a requirement of law that your child attends school within the statutory years, which is age five to sixteen.
How can I make sure my child attends school?
There's a lot you can do to make sure your child attends school. Firstly, by equipping and preparing you child adequately, making sure that they get enough sleep, that they manage their time, that they organize themselves with the equipment and uniform they need, and that they go off to school well fed, and well prepared in general. The other thing is to have a good communication with the school, so that you know as soon as possible if the attendant is slipping. Most schools work very hard to ensure their attendances are good, and if individual pupils stop attending for any reason, they're monitoring these closely and generally communicating quite quickly to the home.
