What the Attendance and Education Welfare Service does.
What the Attendance and Education Welfare Service does
We work to deliver the expectations outlined in the statutory attendance guidance: Working Together to Improve School attendance (GOV.UK).
What We Do:
- Supporting Schools and Families: We help schools and families improve school attendance and achievement.
- Guidance: We provide advice to ensure parents send their children to school regularly, as required by law.
- Targeted Support Meetings (TSMs) for attendance: We routinely hold individual meetings with schools to identify and help students at risk of poor attendance
- Legal Actions: We enforce attendance laws, including issuing Penalty Notices and prosecuting for irregular attendance
- Tracking Missing Students: We track students who are not enrolled in school, Children Missing Education (CME) and ensure they receive suitable education
School attendance
All children should go to school every day unless there's an unavoidable reason like illness.
Pupils should never miss school for reasons like shopping, birthdays or to wait in for a repair person or a delivery.
Parents and carers commit an offence if a child doesn't attend school regularly and the school hasn't agreed the absence.
Elective Home Education (EHE)
We oversee children who are educated at home instead of school, ensuring parents meet their legal responsibilities.
Child Employment and Performance Licensing (CEAL)
- We ensure children with part-time jobs or who perform in entertainment are safe and follow legal guidelines
- Children aged 13 to 16 can work part-time in certain jobs with a work permit
- Children performing in entertainment need a performance licence and a vetted chaperone if not accompanied by a parent