School is best for children with the sniffles

PARENTS have been told to “get a grip” and stop keeping their children off school simply because they have a cold or a cough.

In a crackdown on unauthorised absences, councillors from East Sussex have warned parents that they will be fined if their children miss school.

A series of adverts on local radio, at bus stops and on social media target parents with slogans such as “Get a grip. Most parents do. No excuse for missing school” and “Good reasons for missing school – there are none”. However, the campaign has provoked an outcry among some parents.

A petition calling on the council to withdraw its adverts and leaflets has gained more than 6,000 signatures. Its organiser, Ella Lewis, a local mother, said it suggested parents were “out of control and ineffective parents”.

The campaign comes on the back of a sharp increase in the number of unauthorised absences in the county, with the number of lost school days rising from 599,866 days in 2015-16 to 648,186 in the last academic year. The figures prompted concerns that par- ents were keeping children at home despite NHS advice that children with a “minor cough or cold” can attend.

The Department for Education declined to comment. However, its guidance emphasises that head teachers are entitled to question illness absences if they believe they are not “genuine”.

A council spokesman said: “We appreciate this campaign has been controversial … but we won’t flinch from addressing this extremely serious issue. School attendance levels in East Sussex are simply not good enough.”