Bristol's school attendance websiteIf your child won’t go to school or is truanting, you may feel desperate, surprised and/or angry and have no idea what to do. As a parent you have a legal responsibility to make sure your child attends school but this doesn’t mean it is easy to do this (even though it could make a real difference to your child’s future). Truancy can occur in all families and may even begin at primary school. If your child is truanting or won’t go to school it will help if you can find out the reason for this.
Bristol has an Education Welfare Service who monitor attendance and help parents fulfil their responsibilities under the law. Education Welfare officers sometimes visit families whose children fail to attend school regularly.
If your child won’t go to school and you are struggling to deal with it, help is available from your school and from the following places:
Advisory Centre for Education (ACE) (www.ace-ed.org.uk) (external web-link)
Independent, practical and legal advice on schooling issues.
Helpline: 0808 800 5793 (2pm – 5m, weekdays)
Parent Line Plus (www.parentlineplus.org.uk/index.php?id=254) (external web-link)
Free, 24 hour confidential helpline for parents
Helpline: 0808 800 2222
Textphone : 0800 783 6783
The Parents Centre (www.parentscentre.gov.uk/schoollife/ifthingsgowrong/truancy/) (external web-link)
Information and support for parents.
For more website about school attendance please visit the useful links page in the main parents section