New Hull scheme aims to tackle school truancy increase

Schools will work with parents and carers to find ways to support children if their attendance falls below 90%

A new scheme aims to reduce the number of students not attending school in Hull.

It comes after Department for Education figures showed a rise in truancy.

Data showed 2.3% of Hull pupils missed more than half of class time in the last academic year, up from 1.9% in the previous year.

Under the new ATTEND initiative, schools will work with parents and carers to find ways to support children if their attendance falls below 90%.

On wider school absences, the government figures showed 23.9% of Hull's pupils missed at least one tenth of school time during 2022/23, a drop from 25.6% in the previous academic year.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, more than 100 representatives of Hull's academy trusts met to launch the project.

Councillor Linda Tock said Hull City Council would be working with schools to make sure families get the right support to improve attendance.

"There are many reasons why a child might be missing school," she said.

"That's why we are providing schools with all the tools they need to support families and get to the root causes of non-attendance."

Drop-in sessions have been arranged for parents and carers so they can find out more about the support available to improve attendance.