In an innovative move to tackle pupil absences, a primary school in North London has replaced traditional £160 truancy fines with specialised education courses for parents.
Netley Primary School in Camden is pioneering this approach, offering parents who risk receiving fixed penalty notices the opportunity to attend four educational sessions about the serious consequences of persistent school absence.
The Empathetic Alternative to Traditional Fines
Headteacher Gareth Morris revealed that his inspiration came from the speed awareness courses offered to motorists as an educational alternative to penalties. He described his method as 'empathetic' and better suited to addressing the root causes of attendance issues.
Mr Morris explained that parents at his inner-city school, which received a 'good' rating in its most recent Ofsted inspection, tend to be 'very aspirational' but also 'very overprotective'.
'If there's a slight cold or it's a little bit wet outside, the parents are a little bit nervous about their children, so can be a little bit overcautious,' he told Schools Week.
Demonstrating Success Through Practical Examples
The four-hour sessions, conducted weekly after morning drop-off by Mr Morris and family support worker Simone Sarosh-Cambridge, use powerful visual metaphors to help parents understand the impact of missed schooling.
Parents are shown a sequence of a train where all children start in the first carriage – but those who miss school days gradually move backward, illustrating how quickly they fall behind classmates.
Another exercise involves completing a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces, demonstrating the anxiety children experience when they cannot succeed due to gaps in their learning.
The sessions also cover the long-term consequences of poor attendance, from reduced university prospects to lower future earnings.
Measurable Results and Wider Implications
The initiative has produced impressive outcomes, with Camden Council praising the programme for dramatically improving attendance for 75 per cent of children whose parents participated.
Of the twelve parents offered awareness courses, eight took part – and their children's attendance increased from below 90 per cent to above 95 per cent. The remaining four families received fines.
Mr Morris identified term-time holidays as a significant challenge, noting that since the pandemic, a 'shift in culture' and rising air travel costs have led to more parents taking holidays during school terms.
'A fixed penalty notice is not enough to deter these holidays as the fine of £120 is significantly cheaper than the thousands of pounds a family can save by going in term time,' he observed.
The success at Netley Primary comes as schools in Camden contend with the highest sickness absence rates in inner London, where one in five pupils across the borough are persistently absent – missing 10 per cent of school sessions annually.
The Centre for Social Justice is now urging the government to introduce mandatory attendance awareness courses nationwide at the beginning of the legal intervention process for unauthorised absence.
However, education charity Impetus has sounded a note of caution. Dr Carlie Goldsmith, senior policy advisor at Impetus, warned that while well-implemented courses could strengthen parent-school relationships, 'a badly implemented or coercive approach risks further damaging the already fractured relationship between parents and schools.'
