Parents of skiving pupils told to pay £65 GCSE fees
PARENTS of pupils who skip lessons are being told to pay their exam fees.
A school is charging £65 per GCSE if a child misses more than 10 per cent of classes in their final year – about 20 days.
Parents will pay for each GCSE where students have fallen below minimum attendance, if they insist on them sitting the exam.
The action means some families may have to hand over hundreds of pounds. Cash- strapped schools have asked for contributions towards exam fees in the past but this could be the first to charge pupils for sabotaging their exam prospects by skiving.
Colchester Academy head Fiona Pierson blamed the ‘financial position of the public sector’ for the decision. Miss Pierson was brought in after the mixed school, which has 700 pupils, was rated inadequate in 2014 by Ofsted.
In 2014 just 37 per cent of children gained five or more GCSE grades of A* to C, including maths and English. The national average that year was 58.7 per cent.
The percentage of pupils at the school who missed more than 10 per cent of classes in 2015 was 6.2 – the national average was 3.7.
The exam fee policy has divided parents and locals. Some blamed the Essex school for not encouraging pupils to attend class.
Luke Nadin said: ‘They should look at why the pupils are off so much. My son hates the school.
‘He doesn’t get any help and is starting to go backwards.’ Alison Phillips added: ‘Perhaps [they] need to concern themselves with why the kids have poor attendance and helping parents who have asked for help because of their child’s behaviour.’
But James Bacon described the crackdown as ‘very reasonable’. He said: ‘The students will have to show commitment and if they don’t they’ll have to contribute.’
Letters were sent to parents explaining the scheme last term.
Miss Pierson said: ‘We have seen an improvement in Year 11 attendance of 1.1 per cent. The number of students who have an attendance figure of below 90 per cent has decreased by over half. The improvements will have a significant impact on the successes these young people experience in the future.’
Miss Pierson said not all parents will be made to pay if their child’s attendance is less than 90 per cent. For instance, there may be genuine medical reasons. She added she was ‘extremely sympathetic to student needs’.
The headmistress said she has not had resistance from parents.
A ‘funding crisis’ will lead to job cuts in schools if spending is not increased, the National Association of Head Teachers and the National Governors’ Association warned in an open letter to the Chancellor. It said schools are running out of things to cut.
‘Significant impact on success’