Education Welfare
Services (EWS)
Fast Track
The Department for Education and Skills set up a Working Group to look
at ways of securing a more effective prosecution process for school non-attendance.
All stakeholders were represented on the group including LEA's, Teachers,
Magistrates and Justice Clerks.
Consequently a Fast Track Framework was developed, which
Bexley are now has in place at Cleeve
Park School, Welling
School, Bexleyheath
School, Orchard
Primary School, Sidcup and as of february 2008, Slade
Green Infant School, Northumberland
Heath Primary School, Northend
Primary School and East
Wickham Junior School.
This framework concentrates on early interventions and aims to ensure
a faster and more effective approach to the implementation of intervention
strategies for tackling school non-attendance. In cases where it is
identified to be appropriate, parents will have up to 12 weeks (one
term) to ensure their child regularly attends school or will face prosecution.
The Fast-Track Framework is not about punishing parents - it is about
focusing on strategies to address difficulties. The prosecution process
itself will NOT change.
Bexley's Fast Track Framework
- Early identification by school
- Parents informed of poor attendance
- Meeting in school to resolve perceived problems including support
strategies
- Referral to Education Welfare Service
- Assessment of circumstances around attendance problems
- Meeting to set and Action Plan with targets and support strategies
- Follow up meeting to ensure targets and support met
- Decision on appropriateness of court action
For further information about the Fast Track Framework,
please contact Denise Percival on 020 8836 8157.
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