This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Phone alerts improve school attendance
05/12/2006
Fewer Scottish pupils are missing school thanks to technology which alerts their parents if they bunk off.
Latest figures show that absence rates have fallen in schools which use an automated absence alert system, currently being piloted nationwide.
Secondary schools using the system saw a 0.5 per cent improvement in attendance, compared to little change in other schools.
Primary schools (where truancy is generally less of a problem) saw a 0.1 per cent improvement, compared to no improvement in schools not using the system.
Education Minister Hugh Henry said:
"Education is too important to allow pupils to miss lessons needlessly through truancy. That's why we started a national pilot of automated alerts - currently being used in around 600 schools - to establish whether this would help crack down on truancy.
"It's clear that the systems not only discourage absence but also have an added child protection benefit, alerting parents if their child unexpectedly fails to turn up at school.
"Following the success of the pilot, I'd encourage more schools to consider implementing absence alerts. Just last week, I announced that all schools would receive a share of £40 million for educational resources - and an alert system is an example of what they could use the cash for.
"I'm sure the alert system will help us continue to make inroads into tackling truancy. In particular, it will free up staff time to concentrate on the hard core of persistent truants - the two per cent of pupils responsible for half of truancy.
"This shows how partnership working between schools and parents can make a real difference - helping schools to engage parents quickly to sort out reasons for absence and take early action if needed.
"However, it's also important that we don't get the problem out of proportion. The vast majority of pupils have excellent attendance with 32,000 boasting an impressive 100 per cent attendance record."
Schools which have been trialling automated alert systems have been impressed with the results.
Alva Academy has been using an automated system for six months as part of a package of measures designed to improve attendance. Rector John Meney said:
"During this short time, attendance figures have improved notably. In addition to contacting parents and carers by around 9.30 each morning to inform them if their child is not at school we have also used the system for other purposes. We inform parents when pupils have come to school inappropriately dressed requesting their support to address the problem.
"We also use Groupcall to inform parents when pupils have been delayed during a school outing and have sent messages to alert them to the presence of important items being delivered via the schoolbag. In the next few weeks we will also use the automated call system to alert parents when latecoming is becoming an issue.
"Parents have commented very favourably on the speedy flow of information and we have identified other areas where this system will help to improve our communication with parents in the future."
Musselburgh Grammar School in East Lothian introduced an automated alert system in August 2005. Headteacher Ronnie Summers said:
"Our whole-school attendance figure rose by three per cent last year and we are quite sure that the automated call system has played a significant part in that increase, while acknowledging the role played by register teachers, Guidance staff and the Child and Family Support Worker (Attendance) of the Integration Team.
"The system does probably require a school to invest more office time in the registration process, but we reaped many benefits - it was far harder for pupils to have days off school without their parents' knowledge; it encouraged parents to contact the school early in the day when a pupil was ill to forestall the later automated call and it promoted good links between parents and guidance staff.
"We also used the Groupcall facility this year to notify all parents of S4 pupils about the forthcoming S4 Parents' Evening - we intend to use this facility more frequently in the future too."
Stranraer Academy started to use an automated system for the 2005-06 school year, sending text messages to parents to advise them of unexplained absences. Headteacher Joanna Pallett said:
"This has helped to improve communication with parents and ensures parents are informed at an early stage if their child has not arrived in school.
"We have also used group call to keep parents up to date with events on a football trip to Holland, reminding parents about parents' evenings, prelim timetables and when study guides were issued.
"Parents have found the system helpful to prompt their children, it keeps parents informed and is a quick way of contacting large numbers in an emergency such as school closure. We have been very pleased with the automated call system and hope that we can continue with it."
The Executive provided £740,000 for a nationwide pilot of automated call systems. Each council received money and decided which schools would take part in the pilot. Two thirds of secondary schools, across 31 councils, piloted systems. Ten councils introduced systems in all their secondary schools.
In primary schools, automated call systems were piloted in 15 per cent of schools, by 11 councils.