SCHOOL attendance is coming under the spotlight with the recent appointment of a new West Somerset attendance officer as part of an Opportunity Area initiative.

The issue is to gain a higher profile after findings showed that all 18 schools in the district, from primary to middle and secondary schools, have lower attendance than in other parts of the country.

Elaine Detain, the new officer and a former assistant head at an inner London school, has been visiting local schools this term in a project funded by the West Somerset Opportunity Area, part of the Government programme to help areas with low social mobility.

West Somerset scored lowest in the country for the social mobility index, which reflects the chances for a child from a disadvantaged background to do well at school and get a good job.

Elaine has been working closely with school heads to re-visit, tighten up and clarify their attendance policies, and from next term a revised policy is going to be relaunched.

All parents will be given leaflets explaining why the schools are focusing more heavily on the issue and the clear link between good attendance and good learning outcomes.

And letters will also be going out to parents to let them know that school attendance policies are going to be rigorously applied.

“It is very much about working together with parents, and we hope they will see the value of children being in school and making progress at every stage,” said Elaine.

She said her role enabled someone to have an overview of attendance across all the schools.

It also supported the schools with their attendance strategies, with Elaine working with staff and parents to try to improve pupils’ attendance.

Elaine said it was not known why school attendance was lower in West Somerset.

One of the things she had done with all schools, she said, was to develop how they monitor attendance, so that it would become obvious very quickly if it was becoming an issue for a particular child.

Heads already had a shared attendance policy in place, but she was working with them to tighten this up and make sure of a more consistent approach area-wide.

Paul Rushforth, executive head and chief executive officer of West Somerset Academies Trust – which includes Danesfield and Minehead Middle, Minehead First, St Michael’s, Old Cleeve and St Peters’, Williton, schools – welcomed the emphasis on attendance.

“Whilst I know some parents will not be happy with the new policy, it does bring us into line with the rest of the country,” he said.