PARENTS are facing £50 fines if their children persistently play truant from a York secondary school.

Truancy at Oaklands School is the second worst in The Press's circulation area of York, North and East Yorkshire, with pupils missing about one day in every 50.

But head teacher David Ellis said today he was determined to tackle the matter head on.

He revealed that the school is using a new "attendance panel" system, under which parents whose youngsters have a persistently poor attendance record can be fined £50.

Mr Ellis said: "Clearly we have poor attendance and we know we have a problem with poor attendance from a small number of pupils, we don't make any secret of that fact.

"We are determined to tackle it head on and we were the first school in York to use attendance panels where parents could be fined £50 if their child has persistent poor attendance.

"We started the system in September and so far have had 12 families through the panels process and the majority of those cases attendance has improved as a result.

"It's a policy I will be taking on to the new York High School."

Currently there are 768 pupils at Oaklands School which along with Lowfield School will be replaced by York High School, on the Oaklands site, in 2007, with Mr Ellis as the headmaster. Oaklands' neighbour, Lowfield, currently has the worst attendance figures in the city.

The panels consist of governors, a senior member of staff from the school and representatives from City of York Council.

Youngsters who skip school are called in with their parents to thrash out an agreed target and they have a month to six weeks to prove they can stick to it. If not, the council can take their parents to court under new Government legislation.

Oaklands School also uses its power to object to parents taking kids out for holidays during term time.

Mr Ellis is withholding his permission from parents wanting to take their children out of class to go on holiday during term time.

He said: "It's legal for parents to do that, and we can't physically stop them, but before this was going down as an authorised absence and these were adding to our poor attendance figures.

"Head teachers have the power to authorise up to two weeks holiday during term time and I will not do that now, families have 12 weeks in the year of school holidays in which to take holidays and that should be enough.

"It seems to be ridiculous to me if I just allow absence during term time."

Also Year 11 pupils last year were stopped from going to the end of term prom if their attendance dropped below 92 per cent.

Mr Ellis points to the school's improving GCSE results as further proof of Oaklands' success.

Since 2003 the pass rate at A*-C, not including English and Maths, has jumped from 23 to 49 per cent.

Letters were sent out to parents letting them know about the attendance policy which came into being in September 2006.

Elsewhere in the city the attendance panel system - and threat of £50 fines - is now also being used at Joseph Rowntree School, which has 1,265 pupils in New Earswick.

The school's attendance record is better, with 1.5 per cent of days missed, but still seven families have gone through the process, with three more in the pipeline.

Deputy head Maggi Wright said: "We introduced the system last term and over a short space of time we have had some success already.

"Sometimes parents can be doing all they can to get the children into school, but they just can't get them to come in."


York absence rates are among region's lowest

TRUANCY in York schools is among the lowest in the region.

York is one of 38 local authorities across the country where attendance panels can be used in schools.

The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) released figures for pupil absence in City of York Council's schools for the academic year 2005-2006.

Total absence in York schools was 6.16 per cent in all schools - second lowest in the Yorkshire and Humber government region, which comprises a total of 15 authorities.

Education chiefs at City of York Council attributed the figures in part to expanding the use of parenting contracts/agreements with schools and parents and prosecuting parents who let their children skip school.

The council also has a dedicated behaviour and attendance consultant, who works specifically with schools to help them to increase attendance.

York's performance was bettered only by North Yorkshire, where total absence is six per cent. This compares with a truancy rate of 6.21 per cent in East Riding schools.

The city's figure also compares favourably to the national average of 6.68 per cent and puts York in the top 15 of a total of 150 local authorities nationally.

Mr Ellis's approach has earned praise from council education chief Carol Runciman, who is a governor at Joseph Rowntree School where the panels process is also now being used.

Coun Runciman, the executive member for children's services, said: "This is exactly what they should be doing if it tackles the issue of a child being out of school and the child knows somebody will be looking at their attendance whether they like it or not. It's giving exactly the right message."