School Attendance Week activities off to a flying start

Egbert the Early Bird is helping to get Shropshire Council’s School Attendance Week 2011 off to a flying start.

The colourful character is visiting primary schools to highlight the importance of going to school regularly and on time, and has challenged schools to achieve a 100 per cent attendance rate during the fortnight from 4 to 15 July.

The challenge is for each pupil to achieve 100 per cent attendance. The school which has the highest percentage of pupils achieving this during the two weeks of the challenge will receive an award at the School Attendance Week Celebration Event on 14 October 2011.

Egbert is visiting more than 50 participating schools between 4 July and 21 July, to meet the children and hand out certificates to those who successfully complete the challenge.

This initiative is one of a series of activities which are taking place in the build up to, and during School Attendance Week 2011, run by the council’s education welfare service. It reinforces how crucial good attendance is for children to be able to reach their potential. School Attendance Week takes place between 10 and 14 October 2011, culminating in the celebration event.

Councillor Aggie Caesar-Homden, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for schools said:

“Egbert’s visits to schools and his challenge are a fun way to show how important good school attendance is, and reinforces the serious message of the impact that poor attendance can have on a child’s achievements.

“The determined efforts of parents and carers, pupils, schools and the council all working together are having great results, with excellent attendance across the county.

“However we can always improve and want to ensure that every child has the opportunity to obtain a level of education that will benefit them to the full, well into their adult life.

“I hope that this year’s School Attendance Week is as much of a success as last year, when it was held for the first time in the county.”

Recent figures show that Shropshire’s school attendance rates in both primary and secondary schools increased for autumn 2010, putting Shropshire first in a league of similar councils.

For more information on school attendance in Shropshire go to shropshire.gov.uk/schools.nsf or call the education welfare service on 01743 254397.