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Tackling the truants on the internet
Website allows parental checks
A SCHOOL on special measures is cracking down on truancy with a website allowing parents to check up on their children’s attendance.
The Attendance Gateway website, which allows parents to see if their child has registered each day, follows a report linking truancy with poor grades.
The national target for attendance is 96 per cent and the report found that pupils who miss more than 10 per cent of classes are at risk of underachieving.
The website is part of a tough new regime headed by new headteacher Jo Shuter.
Ms Shuter, who is also head at Quintin Kynaston, Westminster’s only other community school, is tasked with getting the school out of special measures following an surprise Osted inspection in December.
A spokesman for the school said: “Research suggests that there is a direct correlation between attendance and achievement. Children who frequently miss school are unlikely to meet their academic potential.
“With this in mind, the school recently interviewed the parents or carers of every child whose attendance had fallen below 90 per cent. The situation will be reassessed later this term to check for improvement and identify any further students whose attendance has fallen below 90 per cent.
“Parents can now view their child’s attendance records online via the Attendance Gateway.”
Ms Shuter has a reputation for getting results after her other school Quintin Kynaston was named in the top 100 best-performing in the country.
The council appointed her interim head in January after the Ofsted inspection that found pupils aged between 11 and 14 (Key stage 3) were not progressing.
In half a term she has already reviewed and restructure the curriculum, trained staff in new attendance and behaviour systems, held interviews and forums with parents, put in place target setting plans with heads of departments, restructured staff into year teams and introduced a lesson observation policy.
The leader of the council Sir Simon Milton last week said he would like to turn Pimlico into Westminster’s fourth city academy against the wishes of parents at the school.
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