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Andy England: Darfield High School Principal on the new truancy directive · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The government warned us about truancy. Now they're following through
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the Ministry of Education is being told by Seymour, who's
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: the Associate Minister, prosecute parents who don't regularly send their
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: kids to school. Currently ten percent of our kids are
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: absent for fifteen days or more in a school term
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  Speaker 1: and this triggers you red light and that triggers your
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  Speaker 1: possible prosecution. Andy England at Darfield School principal with me
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  Speaker 1: this morning. Morning.
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  Speaker 2: Andy, Well, Ryan, how are you yeah?
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Good? Do you think this will work?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's interesting you're just talking about the UK. I'm
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  Speaker 2: an evidence from the UK is that it won't. If
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  Speaker 2: you look at England that find people there they basically
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  Speaker 2: reported as not being very effective, whereas in Scotland, where
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  Speaker 2: they don't find people, they get the same or better attendance.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: So I mean the talk about attendance is making a difference.
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  Speaker 2: Our attendance is certainly improving if you compare to this
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  Speaker 2: year compared to the term one of last year, we've
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: got pretty substantially improved attendants And I think some of
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: the other response to the talk that's happening at a
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  Speaker 2: national level. So I can't follow that, but absolutely. I
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  Speaker 2: think this one's probably more about politics and not particularly
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: not particularly about education, because the research would say it's
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  Speaker 2: not going to help.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, but I actually reading between the lines, I don't
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  Speaker 1: think they're actually going to end up prosecuting anyone. It's
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  Speaker 1: you know, the ministry, we're not prosecute parents of students
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  Speaker 1: who are absent because of chronic illness or health conditions
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  Speaker 1: or disability, or who are genuinely engaging with the school.
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  Speaker 1: Blah blah blah.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's more of a pr exercise.
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  Speaker 2: Don't you me too? And maybe it's okay in that sense.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: But if you look at us that we look for you,
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  Speaker 2: we have twenty eight students who could fall into that
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  Speaker 2: chronic attendance absence, sorry, chronic attendance category in term one
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  Speaker 2: of this year's three percent, and of them, the vast
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  Speaker 2: majority of them, we're into those that their parents who
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: are struggling, they've got health issues within the family, the
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: student themselves, we reckon them. I'd be struggling to prosecute anything.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Who's got the health issues the student or the parents.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: Is the health usual is the student, and there are
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  Speaker 2: some good measures in place for those. I mean the
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  Speaker 2: health school facility is a brilliant so but actually, in
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  Speaker 2: my experience, most parents want to get the students to school.
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  Speaker 2: There are a few, you know, very few cases where
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  Speaker 2: that's not the case. Most parents want to get the
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  Speaker 2: students to school. They've got issues at home, complex issues,
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: and I think we want to make a really big difference.
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  Speaker 2: We've got to take it more nuanced approach early intervention.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: If by the time they've got to high school is
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  Speaker 2: that entrenched in these behaviors, it's not like it to
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  Speaker 2: changed quickly.
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  Speaker 1: That's not three percent. That's interesting. Most of them sick though,
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  Speaker 1: you reckon which which by the way, they wouldn't be called.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: They wouldn't be prosecuted because if you have that chronic illness,
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  Speaker 1: it's not it's not applicable. So yeah, all right, Hey, Andy,
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  Speaker 1: sounds like at least all the talk is doing something
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  Speaker 1: which is counterintuitive. But there we go, Andy England with
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  Speaker 1: us from the Darfield School in just the principal there
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  Speaker 1: at Dartfield School.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Thanks Ryan.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Thanks for more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: Listen live to news Talks it'd be from five am weekdays,
• 2:56
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