:00:07. > :00:15.In Merthyr Tydfil, they're cracking down on the streets. If she's ill,
:00:15. > :00:19.she shouldn't be walking around town, should she? And in the courts.
:00:19. > :00:22.Basically if she doesn't go to school tomorrow my wife will end up
:00:22. > :00:26.in jail. But last week, a damning report saw the council losing
:00:26. > :00:28.control of its schools. In respect of Merthyr, the local authority's
:00:28. > :00:31.performance is unsatisfactory. Attendance at Primary schools are
:00:31. > :00:34.unacceptably low. It's another council in special measures. Welsh
:00:34. > :00:40.education is in turmoil. We have the worst truancy rates in the UK.
:00:40. > :00:44.So where does that leave the kids skipping school? I'm just not that
:00:44. > :00:48.good getting up in the morning, I'm very lazy. Tonight we're going
:00:48. > :00:53.behind the scenes at Merthyr as the council tries to get pupils back to
:00:53. > :01:03.class. And we look at new fines that could hit parents hard.
:01:03. > :01:23.
:01:23. > :01:27.wouldn't want to give out fines. Why were you late? Slept late.
:01:27. > :01:34.Slept late. And what about you? My father couldn't wake up. Your
:01:34. > :01:37.father couldn't get woken up?! These children are late for the
:01:37. > :01:41.school day at Goetre Primary, but at least they're in. Right, what
:01:41. > :01:44.time are you supposed to be in? don't know. You don't know? Half
:01:44. > :01:54.past nine. New school, is it? Ten to nine. And for those who haven't
:01:54. > :01:58.
:01:58. > :02:02.made it, Ann Broadway is on the case. Hello, just calling because
:02:02. > :02:09.he's not in today. I'm just wondering why he's not in school
:02:09. > :02:19.today? We haven't had a telephone call. Away from the schools,
:02:19. > :02:25.
:02:25. > :02:35.Education Welfare Officers are on patrol. Adrian Hall from Education.
:02:35. > :02:41.
:02:41. > :02:51.Come to have a chat with you about Brandon's attendance recently. He
:02:51. > :03:01.was on his bike, trying to work on a market stall. We picked him up a
:03:01. > :03:02.
:03:02. > :03:12.second time. He was picked up a second time, back on his bike.
:03:12. > :03:18.
:03:18. > :03:22.wasn't aware of that. Their aim, to drive up attendance, standards and
:03:22. > :03:26.results. Kyle Sloman is a typical teenager. He prefers his computer
:03:26. > :03:30.games to lessons. So much so he's been missing school. I don't really
:03:30. > :03:36.enjoy it. I can tolerate it. I'm just not very good at getting up in
:03:36. > :03:40.the mornings. I'm pretty lazy. result, his mother found herself in
:03:40. > :03:45.the dock. She's just been sentenced at the magistrates' court and she's
:03:45. > :03:54.not impressed. I thought it was a bit stiff actually, a conditional
:03:54. > :04:04.discharge and a fine. One or the other maybe. I can't get him to
:04:04. > :04:13.
:04:13. > :04:21.school. Ive sold the X Box. What else are you supposed to do? When I
:04:21. > :04:31.go to work, I try making go to school. Back home, Mum's face says
:04:31. > :04:36.
:04:36. > :04:46.it all. You surprised to see me? Do you know where I've been? Court.
:04:46. > :04:48.
:04:48. > :04:55.What happened, fine? Do you know what a conditional discharge is?
:04:55. > :05:01.What is it? If you do anything else, you will be sent straight to prison.
:05:01. > :05:05.Do you think that's fair on me? Behind closed doors, truancy cases
:05:05. > :05:11.in Merthyr have been keeping the legal team busy. And it's Rebecka
:05:11. > :05:15.Bow's job to take the parents of truants to court. If the parents
:05:15. > :05:19.contact the local authority we can put a lot in to help the families,
:05:19. > :05:21.help the parents, help the children. There's so many things that can be
:05:21. > :05:24.done. But unfortunately, if the local authority are ignored, if
:05:24. > :05:27.letters and phone calls and text messages are ignored from the
:05:27. > :05:35.school and the education service, then unfortunately this is where we
:05:35. > :05:45.end up. I don't think see how punishing her is going to make me
:05:45. > :05:47.
:05:48. > :05:57.go. She can't really make me go to school. In the town centre, the
:05:58. > :06:08.
:06:09. > :06:16.truancy patrol is out on the street again. Can now take some details
:06:16. > :06:19.are led to go on your way? There been a big increase in court cases
:06:19. > :06:21.here too. 50 parents have been successfully prosecuted in the last
:06:21. > :06:28.two years. They're not alone. We have discovered that prosecutions
:06:28. > :06:31.across Wales are up, from 60 in 2007 to nearly 500 in 2011. On the
:06:31. > :06:36.day the truancy officers came to call, Brandon comes home from
:06:36. > :06:42.school. Dad wants a word. He has employed some pretty drastic
:06:42. > :06:46.tactics to keep him in class. You've done a couple of things.
:06:46. > :06:53.Tipped my mattress over and everything. We've tried that one,
:06:53. > :06:57.have we? I've even driven him to school myself. I've had a taxi to
:06:57. > :07:07.take him to school and then an hour later I'm having a phone call -
:07:07. > :07:15.
:07:15. > :07:25.Brandon's on his way home. I used to run home all the time. I used to
:07:25. > :07:32.
:07:32. > :07:37.like primary school. It is clearly closely related to low standards in
:07:37. > :07:41.Wales, to under-achievement, and to lower attainment. Professor Ken
:07:41. > :07:46.Reid is a leading expert on truancy. It's thanks to his recommendation
:07:46. > :07:49.that the issue is now a priority for the Welsh Government. I think
:07:49. > :07:58.we've made some steps forwards and the minister is right to emphasise
:07:58. > :08:05.need to improve standards. But you're not going to raise standards
:08:05. > :08:08.across the board in Wales until you improve rates of attendance. In
:08:08. > :08:10.some authorities and in some particular schools the problem of
:08:11. > :08:20.non-attendance and truancy is actually no better than it has ever
:08:21. > :08:35.
:08:35. > :08:39.Is there any reason? Has he said anything at all? At Goetre Primary,
:08:39. > :08:43.an eight-year-old boy has refused to come into school. You're up now
:08:43. > :08:50.for dinner. Do you want to bring him in with you and we'll try to
:08:50. > :08:57.find out what's going on? A couple of hours later, his gran manages to
:08:57. > :09:02.bring him in. Is it the read/write/ink thing? I thought it
:09:02. > :09:08.might be. What is it about it you don't like, angel? You've missed it
:09:08. > :09:10.now this morning anyway. It's a change to routine that's confused
:09:10. > :09:20.him. That's all. You're going you're going to see those children
:09:20. > :09:22.
:09:22. > :09:25.coming in your class is for one hour. So, you promise me and I'll
:09:25. > :09:29.promise you, you promise me you'll come into school every day and I'll
:09:29. > :09:33.make sure I'm around at that time so, should you wobble and you need
:09:33. > :09:43.to come to me, and I'll promise you that you'll have a gift at the end
:09:43. > :09:55.
:09:55. > :09:59.of the week if you do it. Is that a It's a boy in Year Eight. We had
:09:59. > :10:02.some problems with him last year when he was refusing to come in. He
:10:02. > :10:09.thought school was boring. He didn't get anything out of it. He
:10:10. > :10:13.just didn't want to go. Back on the road, Education Welfare officers
:10:13. > :10:21.Mia and Adrian are off to speak to another parent whose son doesn't
:10:21. > :10:27.want to go to school. You're still having problems? He has started
:10:27. > :10:33.again, yeah? I think he was two weeks. He's getting there with a
:10:33. > :10:43.struggle. He is getting there with a struggle. But not ideal. He is
:10:43. > :10:46.
:10:46. > :10:51.going in eventually in around 10.30. I've had to give up one job. The
:10:51. > :10:55.days I'm working, he knows I have to leave by a certain time, and of
:10:55. > :11:05.course of the aims ready, if these interests, there is nothing I can
:11:05. > :11:08.
:11:08. > :11:13.do. I had to give my notice in for one job. His attitude is, I don't
:11:14. > :11:23.care. Would it help if I spoke to him? If you could, you know. I've
:11:24. > :11:24.
:11:24. > :11:34.done it. Explained the consequences. He doesn't listen to me, I'm his
:11:34. > :11:40.
:11:40. > :11:45.mother. It is nice to see a parent who takes on board that we are here
:11:45. > :11:49.to support them. The ladies working with us, there is no need to go
:11:49. > :11:56.down the court read. As long as she works with us, we are prepared to
:11:56. > :12:00.work with her. Mum's trying so we'll help her. Sarah Hicks is
:12:00. > :12:06.given more time. But the pressure is on to get her son Elliot to
:12:06. > :12:08.school. Lots of children are having a certificate today because they've
:12:08. > :12:13.improved their attendance." Head teacher Denise Morgan knows the
:12:13. > :12:17.value of carrot over stick. understand that sometimes we have
:12:17. > :12:22.little colds and coughs and things. But most of the time we want you in
:12:22. > :12:32.school every day. The children are getting their awards but it's the
:12:32. > :12:37.
:12:37. > :12:45.parents that the head has really got her eye on. We cannot do our
:12:45. > :12:48.jobs are that your support, I want them to get a bit grand applause.
:12:48. > :12:52.These are young children we are talking about. At that age they
:12:52. > :12:58.don't get dressed themselves. So it's all about supporting the
:12:58. > :13:00.parents. No one's perfect, are they? Some may not have had a good
:13:00. > :13:03.experience themselves. And don't really consider school to be that
:13:03. > :13:10.important. It is about accepting that parents have issues but trying
:13:10. > :13:14.to overcome them in the best way that we can. Here it's about
:13:14. > :13:17.support. But the rules of the game are changing. Head teachers might
:13:17. > :13:20.find themselves hitting parents with fines, not awards. Penalty
:13:20. > :13:30.notices of up to �120 are being considered by the Welsh government
:13:30. > :13:31.
:13:31. > :13:35.and teachers could be handing them out. I think that would be
:13:35. > :13:39.detrimental to my relationship with parents, I would find that
:13:39. > :13:44.extremely difficult, very challenging. It is my job to work
:13:44. > :13:54.alongside them, to work with them, it is not my job to be giving them
:13:54. > :14:00.
:14:00. > :14:03.Elliot went to school today but it can be hit and miss. And since the
:14:04. > :14:10.truancy officers called, his mother is worried. You just decided,
:14:10. > :14:17.didn't you? He says they can't teach him anything he doesn't
:14:17. > :14:23.already know. And he was bored. He doesn't like Geography, and detests
:14:23. > :14:33.French. I'm never intending to go to France so I don't see the point
:14:33. > :14:39.
:14:39. > :14:45.of learning French. He'd rather I am too tired when I wake up. To
:14:45. > :14:52.get dressed. And things like that. It takes me an hour to get out of
:14:52. > :15:02.bed and wake up. Threats and punishments from mum haven't worked.
:15:02. > :15:05.But has she done enough?. I've taken his computer away for seven
:15:05. > :15:09.weeks. Any other time he'd be doing his nut. But he doesn't care as
:15:09. > :15:13.long as he doesn't have to go to school. It's scary when you you
:15:13. > :15:17.have letters from the court saying they are going to put you in jail.
:15:17. > :15:20.The council say it isn't going to take her to court. But how would
:15:20. > :15:26.she feel if she was fined �60 instead, every time Elliot didn't
:15:26. > :15:31.turn up to school? If it was my fault, I wasn't getting up to send
:15:31. > :15:41.him to school, fair enough. You take the consequences but I'm not
:15:41. > :15:42.
:15:42. > :15:44.keeping him from school. I'm doing everything to get him to school.
:15:44. > :15:50.She's not the only parent who thinks that penalty fines won't
:15:50. > :15:52.work. If a parent is really trying their best to get their child to
:15:52. > :15:59.school, other than physically taking them to the school
:15:59. > :16:03.themselves, what else can they do? Spot fines have been used in
:16:03. > :16:10.England for a decade. Last year alone more than 30,000 were issued.
:16:10. > :16:18.But experts are far from convinced that they work. All the evidence
:16:18. > :16:27.from England is they don't work. There are people are will not
:16:27. > :16:30.engage with the system. I agree with that. I had said, it is one
:16:30. > :16:36.tool amongst many but all I can tell you, all the legal penalties
:16:36. > :16:42.we have had for the last 50 or 60 years, on the truancy, have never
:16:42. > :16:45.made much difference and have never worked. Since penalty notices were
:16:45. > :16:50.introduced in England, truancy has actually increased. Merthyr Tydfil
:16:50. > :16:52.told us it has concerns about fines, but the council has bigger problems.
:16:52. > :17:02.As we filmed, its education department was taken into special
:17:02. > :17:04.
:17:04. > :17:10.We have got one in next week that we have been monitoring for some
:17:10. > :17:15.time. At Merthyr Council, this is where it gets serious. Decisions
:17:15. > :17:18.made here can result in a criminal record. If we can't have
:17:18. > :17:22.communication with the parent, we will have to go down the
:17:23. > :17:27.prosecution route. Adrian Hall is back in the office discussing a
:17:27. > :17:32.case that needs to go to court. parents are not engaging with us so
:17:32. > :17:37.we can't put support in. We are left now with very few options.
:17:37. > :17:45.This is the second prosecution for this parent, so we are looking at a
:17:45. > :17:49.higher element of defence which has a risk of a custodial sentence.
:17:49. > :17:56.Suzanne Lewis is the mother facing prison. Because 15 year old Shauna
:17:57. > :18:06.isn't attending school. I loved it in primary school. I was really
:18:07. > :18:07.
:18:07. > :18:13.good at maths. I ended up falling apart, basically, in year 7 or year
:18:13. > :18:19.six. I have got a lot of things on my mind all the time and I can't
:18:19. > :18:26.sit down and concentrate. I end up getting into a lot of fights and
:18:26. > :18:30.stuff like that. It's really bad. It was just easier for me to keep
:18:30. > :18:35.away from it. Years of truancy have finally resulted in a court date
:18:36. > :18:45.that could mean jail for her mother. If she doesn't go to school
:18:46. > :18:46.
:18:46. > :18:52.tomorrow my wife will go to jail. There should be something done to
:18:52. > :18:58.get children to school, but it shouldn't be punishing parents.
:18:58. > :19:06.It's disgusting. It's like me being found prosecuted for that guy
:19:06. > :19:09.shoplifting over there. That's what it feels like. It's totally unjust.
:19:09. > :19:12.Suzanne Lewis received a suspended sentence, and she will have to do
:19:12. > :19:15.community service for failing to send her daughter to school. I've
:19:15. > :19:25.never had a criminal record myself. All of a sudden I get fined,
:19:25. > :19:25.
:19:25. > :19:30.threatened with going to court, prison. I haven't got a record of
:19:30. > :19:38.my own. Most probably end up in prison because of it. Society says
:19:38. > :19:43.we have to send kids to school. We have to get them there somehow.
:19:43. > :19:52.have taken her to the school gates, took it to the school gates, and
:19:52. > :20:00.then we have had phone calls to pick her back up. She will not do
:20:00. > :20:04.any work so we had to pick a back- Six-year-old Liam Davies was almost
:20:04. > :20:12.always absent. His mother was sent to prison because she didn't take
:20:12. > :20:16.him to school. Now he lives with his father Jeremy and things have
:20:16. > :20:20.changed. I thought I'd have big problems, but obviously he'd only
:20:20. > :20:24.been in school 33 times in a year. But after the first week it was bit
:20:24. > :20:27.funny for him, cos he wasn't used to it. He just turned round and
:20:27. > :20:31.said to me, "I like school, dad." In fact he's told me he's made
:20:31. > :20:34.friends and that. In the last eight months, he's learned to read, write.
:20:34. > :20:41.He's flying through books now in school. I've taught him maths at
:20:41. > :20:45.home and school's been teaching him. His maths have come on really well.
:20:45. > :20:49.Liam now loves going to school and he goes almost every day. His
:20:49. > :20:59.father can't thank the school enough. They helped me with him
:20:59. > :21:01.
:21:01. > :21:04.first five weeks just getting him here. After the holidays, they
:21:04. > :21:07.invited me to classes for two hours just to show me how they were
:21:07. > :21:11.teaching him cos obviously a lot's changed since I was in school. And
:21:11. > :21:16.it just taught me how to have more patience with him and learning him
:21:16. > :21:18.to read at home and things. Are OK? Fair play to Ann, the support she's
:21:19. > :21:27.given to my son has been unbelievable. And me, she'll phone
:21:27. > :21:33.me up and say, "Is everything OK?" very supportive. It's been a big
:21:33. > :21:36.change for us both in our lives. Ann's efforts have paid off, and
:21:36. > :21:46.not just for Liam. Attendance at Goetre Primary has gone up from 85%
:21:46. > :21:47.
:21:47. > :21:55.to 93%. Sure you haven't been With Ann, my workload has been
:21:55. > :22:05.lightened by her presence in the school. I don't know what I'd do
:22:05. > :22:09.without Ann. In this area that post is absolutely crucial. In early
:22:09. > :22:13.intervention works best. By pointing out that children who are
:22:13. > :22:17.constantly late and identifying those children and taking a step
:22:17. > :22:22.back and thinking, what is the real reason behind it and making contact
:22:22. > :22:30.with those families. Then you usually find they are living in
:22:30. > :22:33.crisis of some sort and need some help. Early intervention works best.
:22:33. > :22:36.Early intervention was a big part of Professor Reid's report for the
:22:36. > :22:38.Welsh government on how to tackle truancy. His ideas have been
:22:38. > :22:41.praised. But four years on, what's happening? I'm very disappointed
:22:41. > :22:43.there's no national plan on teachers in schools on improving
:22:43. > :22:50.attendance. Very disappointed that there's not much more emphasis on
:22:50. > :22:57.earlier intervention. Is that a mistake? I think it's a very
:22:57. > :22:59.serious mistake. We have had some short term gains at moment in
:22:59. > :23:02.raising school attendance through the good work of staff in schools
:23:02. > :23:12.and local authorities. But we haven't really addressed the
:23:12. > :23:12.
:23:12. > :23:17.underlying causes. He believes success will come from having
:23:17. > :23:20.specially-trained teachers in schools. The earlier the better.
:23:20. > :23:23.But across Wales it's a postcode lottery on whether staff at your
:23:23. > :23:26.school have those skills. Or have an Ann. I'll ask Miss Bates if you
:23:26. > :23:34.can have some toast now, Josh. There are reasons behind people's
:23:34. > :23:38.behaviour. Nobody decided to be the person they are. Some think there
:23:39. > :23:42.is something striving them to be that way. If I can offer some
:23:42. > :23:48.support to change that, then I'll continue to do that as long as the
:23:48. > :23:51.funding is there for me to do it. She is funded by a government grant
:23:51. > :23:56.rather than a council salary. There's no guarantee that her role
:23:56. > :23:59.is permanent. Jobs like Ann's are not the only ones in short supply.
:23:59. > :24:02.We've discovered that Education Welfare Officer posts across Wales
:24:02. > :24:12.have dropped by 17% over the last five years when tackling truancy is
:24:12. > :24:14.
:24:14. > :24:17.The theory is that more parents like Suzanne Lewis might have to
:24:17. > :24:23.face jail if there aren't enough trained staff to intervene and
:24:23. > :24:31.tackle truancy when it starts to become a problem. Mam shouldn't be
:24:31. > :24:38.going through that. It's not her fault why this has happened. I do
:24:38. > :24:44.feel guilty sometimes. Why has it come to this? I'm scared in case
:24:45. > :24:48.they put her in prison. In Merthyr, overall attendance has improved,
:24:48. > :24:50.especially in Secondary schools. But it's too little too late to
:24:50. > :25:00.save the council from the consequences of the poor
:25:00. > :25:00.
:25:00. > :25:05.performance of its education department. The local authority's
:25:05. > :25:11.performance is unsatisfactory at key stages. Standards for learners
:25:11. > :25:15.are unsatisfactory, exclusion rates are too high. Too many people are
:25:15. > :25:22.not in education and training and attendance rates in primary schools
:25:22. > :25:25.are unacceptably low. It's the fifth local authority in Wales to
:25:26. > :25:29.fail an independent inspection. Across the country there could be
:25:29. > :25:33.more so the local council are in the dock. But with so many failing,
:25:33. > :25:36.is it all their fault? When Leighton Andrew visited a Merthyr
:25:36. > :25:40.School recently, the council still had control of education in its
:25:40. > :25:44.area. They don't now. Could this mean the imposition of penalty
:25:44. > :25:54.fines for truancy? Or is he prepared to consider a wider
:25:54. > :25:54.
:25:54. > :25:57.strategy? Why aren't you launching training policies as opposed to
:25:57. > :26:02.consulting on penalty fines? Well, consultation on penalty notices is
:26:02. > :26:06.just one aspect. We have launched a national strategy. There's no
:26:06. > :26:11.national strategy. Well, there is a national strategy that was
:26:11. > :26:21.developed by Professor Ken Reid. We've taken a number of steps.
:26:21. > :26:25.
:26:25. > :26:28.was four years ago. No, we've taken them forward. The Welsh Government
:26:28. > :26:31.say they're accrediting courses. Isn't that good enough? What the
:26:31. > :26:33.Welsh Government has started to do is introduce a new masters level
:26:34. > :26:38.programme for newly qualified teachers which will have a module
:26:38. > :26:41.on behaviour and attendance. But there is no national strategy at
:26:41. > :26:51.all yet on behaviour and attendance despite the assurances we were
:26:51. > :26:55.
:26:55. > :27:05.given that it would happen four Back on the beat in Merthyr, the
:27:05. > :27:06.
:27:06. > :27:09.truancy patrol is winding up for the day. We challenged 25 parents
:27:09. > :27:14.and children, with reasons ranging from the legitimate to having been
:27:14. > :27:17.given the day off to have their nails done. They're expecting soon
:27:17. > :27:20.to find out if the Government is going to bring in penalty fines for
:27:20. > :27:27.parents here and the throughout Wales. Meanwhile, with Merthyr's
:27:27. > :27:34.education in crisis, Adrian waits see who his new boss might be.
:27:34. > :27:38.Everyone needs to contribute to improve school attendance. Schools
:27:38. > :27:42.are doing their bit. We are doing our bit. At the end of the day,
:27:42. > :27:47.working together, we will get there. Families continue to count the cost
:27:47. > :27:52.of truancy. Suzanne Lewis is a whisker way from jail, after
:27:52. > :28:01.failing to turn up for her community service. We were having
:28:01. > :28:05.trouble with Shauna. She was staying out overnight. It seemed to
:28:06. > :28:15.be the days I was going to probation. I was not able to go to
:28:16. > :28:17.
:28:17. > :28:19.probation at no and she was out. -- knowing she was out. She's been
:28:19. > :28:22.given a second chance to do her community service. She'll be
:28:22. > :28:25.cleaning the streets of Merthyr. This time she has avoided jail. For
:28:25. > :28:29.15-year-old Shauna, the consequence of her truancy is beginning to sink
:28:29. > :28:39.in. Sometimes it does upset me when I realise how good I was at maths
:28:39. > :28:39.
:28:39. > :28:44.years ago. Compared to now. It has affected my future. It affects how
:28:44. > :28:47.I'm going to get a job. Kyle's attendance has improved. Brandon's
:28:48. > :28:54.is still hit and miss. Elliot has been going to school every day
:28:54. > :28:57.since the truancy officers called. But will he stick at it? We're