Parents on Trial Week In Week Out

In Merthyr Tydfil, they're cracking down on the streets. If she's ill,

she shouldn't be walking around town, should she? And in the courts.

Basically if she doesn't go to school tomorrow my wife will end up

in jail. But last week, a damning report saw the council losing

control of its schools. In respect of Merthyr, the local authority's

performance is unsatisfactory. Attendance at Primary schools are

unacceptably low. It's another council in special measures. Welsh

education is in turmoil. We have the worst truancy rates in the UK.

So where does that leave the kids skipping school? I'm just not that

good getting up in the morning, I'm very lazy. Tonight we're going

behind the scenes at Merthyr as the council tries to get pupils back to

class. And we look at new fines that could hit parents hard.

wouldn't want to give out fines. Why were you late? Slept late.

Slept late. And what about you? My father couldn't wake up. Your

father couldn't get woken up?! These children are late for the

school day at Goetre Primary, but at least they're in. Right, what

time are you supposed to be in? don't know. You don't know? Half

past nine. New school, is it? Ten to nine. And for those who haven't

made it, Ann Broadway is on the case. Hello, just calling because

he's not in today. I'm just wondering why he's not in school

today? We haven't had a telephone call. Away from the schools,

Education Welfare Officers are on patrol. Adrian Hall from Education.

Come to have a chat with you about Brandon's attendance recently. He

was on his bike, trying to work on a market stall. We picked him up a

second time. He was picked up a second time, back on his bike.

wasn't aware of that. Their aim, to drive up attendance, standards and

results. Kyle Sloman is a typical teenager. He prefers his computer

games to lessons. So much so he's been missing school. I don't really

enjoy it. I can tolerate it. I'm just not very good at getting up in

the mornings. I'm pretty lazy. result, his mother found herself in

the dock. She's just been sentenced at the magistrates' court and she's

not impressed. I thought it was a bit stiff actually, a conditional

discharge and a fine. One or the other maybe. I can't get him to

school. Ive sold the X Box. What else are you supposed to do? When I

go to work, I try making go to school. Back home, Mum's face says

it all. You surprised to see me? Do you know where I've been? Court.

What happened, fine? Do you know what a conditional discharge is?

What is it? If you do anything else, you will be sent straight to prison.

Do you think that's fair on me? Behind closed doors, truancy cases

in Merthyr have been keeping the legal team busy. And it's Rebecka

Bow's job to take the parents of truants to court. If the parents

contact the local authority we can put a lot in to help the families,

help the parents, help the children. There's so many things that can be

done. But unfortunately, if the local authority are ignored, if

letters and phone calls and text messages are ignored from the

school and the education service, then unfortunately this is where we

end up. I don't think see how punishing her is going to make me

go. She can't really make me go to school. In the town centre, the

truancy patrol is out on the street again. Can now take some details

are led to go on your way? There been a big increase in court cases

here too. 50 parents have been successfully prosecuted in the last

two years. They're not alone. We have discovered that prosecutions

across Wales are up, from 60 in 2007 to nearly 500 in 2011. On the

day the truancy officers came to call, Brandon comes home from

school. Dad wants a word. He has employed some pretty drastic

tactics to keep him in class. You've done a couple of things.

Tipped my mattress over and everything. We've tried that one,

have we? I've even driven him to school myself. I've had a taxi to

take him to school and then an hour later I'm having a phone call -

Brandon's on his way home. I used to run home all the time. I used to

like primary school. It is clearly closely related to low standards in

Wales, to under-achievement, and to lower attainment. Professor Ken

Reid is a leading expert on truancy. It's thanks to his recommendation

that the issue is now a priority for the Welsh Government. I think

we've made some steps forwards and the minister is right to emphasise

need to improve standards. But you're not going to raise standards

across the board in Wales until you improve rates of attendance. In

some authorities and in some particular schools the problem of

non-attendance and truancy is actually no better than it has ever

Is there any reason? Has he said anything at all? At Goetre Primary,

an eight-year-old boy has refused to come into school. You're up now

for dinner. Do you want to bring him in with you and we'll try to

find out what's going on? A couple of hours later, his gran manages to

bring him in. Is it the read/write/ink thing? I thought it

might be. What is it about it you don't like, angel? You've missed it

now this morning anyway. It's a change to routine that's confused

him. That's all. You're going you're going to see those children

coming in your class is for one hour. So, you promise me and I'll

promise you, you promise me you'll come into school every day and I'll

make sure I'm around at that time so, should you wobble and you need

to come to me, and I'll promise you that you'll have a gift at the end

of the week if you do it. Is that a It's a boy in Year Eight. We had

some problems with him last year when he was refusing to come in. He

thought school was boring. He didn't get anything out of it. He

just didn't want to go. Back on the road, Education Welfare officers

Mia and Adrian are off to speak to another parent whose son doesn't

want to go to school. You're still having problems? He has started

again, yeah? I think he was two weeks. He's getting there with a

struggle. He is getting there with a struggle. But not ideal. He is

going in eventually in around 10.30. I've had to give up one job. The

days I'm working, he knows I have to leave by a certain time, and of

course of the aims ready, if these interests, there is nothing I can

do. I had to give my notice in for one job. His attitude is, I don't

care. Would it help if I spoke to him? If you could, you know. I've

done it. Explained the consequences. He doesn't listen to me, I'm his

mother. It is nice to see a parent who takes on board that we are here

to support them. The ladies working with us, there is no need to go

down the court read. As long as she works with us, we are prepared to

work with her. Mum's trying so we'll help her. Sarah Hicks is

given more time. But the pressure is on to get her son Elliot to

school. Lots of children are having a certificate today because they've

improved their attendance." Head teacher Denise Morgan knows the

value of carrot over stick. understand that sometimes we have

little colds and coughs and things. But most of the time we want you in

school every day. The children are getting their awards but it's the

parents that the head has really got her eye on. We cannot do our

jobs are that your support, I want them to get a bit grand applause.

These are young children we are talking about. At that age they

don't get dressed themselves. So it's all about supporting the

parents. No one's perfect, are they? Some may not have had a good

experience themselves. And don't really consider school to be that

important. It is about accepting that parents have issues but trying

to overcome them in the best way that we can. Here it's about

support. But the rules of the game are changing. Head teachers might

find themselves hitting parents with fines, not awards. Penalty

notices of up to �120 are being considered by the Welsh government

and teachers could be handing them out. I think that would be

detrimental to my relationship with parents, I would find that

extremely difficult, very challenging. It is my job to work

alongside them, to work with them, it is not my job to be giving them

Elliot went to school today but it can be hit and miss. And since the

truancy officers called, his mother is worried. You just decided,

didn't you? He says they can't teach him anything he doesn't

already know. And he was bored. He doesn't like Geography, and detests

French. I'm never intending to go to France so I don't see the point

of learning French. He'd rather I am too tired when I wake up. To

get dressed. And things like that. It takes me an hour to get out of

bed and wake up. Threats and punishments from mum haven't worked.

But has she done enough?. I've taken his computer away for seven

weeks. Any other time he'd be doing his nut. But he doesn't care as

long as he doesn't have to go to school. It's scary when you you

have letters from the court saying they are going to put you in jail.

The council say it isn't going to take her to court. But how would

she feel if she was fined �60 instead, every time Elliot didn't

turn up to school? If it was my fault, I wasn't getting up to send

him to school, fair enough. You take the consequences but I'm not

keeping him from school. I'm doing everything to get him to school.

She's not the only parent who thinks that penalty fines won't

work. If a parent is really trying their best to get their child to

school, other than physically taking them to the school

themselves, what else can they do? Spot fines have been used in

England for a decade. Last year alone more than 30,000 were issued.

But experts are far from convinced that they work. All the evidence

from England is they don't work. There are people are will not

engage with the system. I agree with that. I had said, it is one

tool amongst many but all I can tell you, all the legal penalties

we have had for the last 50 or 60 years, on the truancy, have never

made much difference and have never worked. Since penalty notices were

introduced in England, truancy has actually increased. Merthyr Tydfil

told us it has concerns about fines, but the council has bigger problems.

As we filmed, its education department was taken into special

We have got one in next week that we have been monitoring for some

time. At Merthyr Council, this is where it gets serious. Decisions

made here can result in a criminal record. If we can't have

communication with the parent, we will have to go down the

prosecution route. Adrian Hall is back in the office discussing a

case that needs to go to court. parents are not engaging with us so

we can't put support in. We are left now with very few options.

This is the second prosecution for this parent, so we are looking at a

higher element of defence which has a risk of a custodial sentence.

Suzanne Lewis is the mother facing prison. Because 15 year old Shauna

isn't attending school. I loved it in primary school. I was really

good at maths. I ended up falling apart, basically, in year 7 or year

six. I have got a lot of things on my mind all the time and I can't

sit down and concentrate. I end up getting into a lot of fights and

stuff like that. It's really bad. It was just easier for me to keep

away from it. Years of truancy have finally resulted in a court date

that could mean jail for her mother. If she doesn't go to school

tomorrow my wife will go to jail. There should be something done to

get children to school, but it shouldn't be punishing parents.

It's disgusting. It's like me being found prosecuted for that guy

shoplifting over there. That's what it feels like. It's totally unjust.

Suzanne Lewis received a suspended sentence, and she will have to do

community service for failing to send her daughter to school. I've

never had a criminal record myself. All of a sudden I get fined,

threatened with going to court, prison. I haven't got a record of

my own. Most probably end up in prison because of it. Society says

we have to send kids to school. We have to get them there somehow.

have taken her to the school gates, took it to the school gates, and

then we have had phone calls to pick her back up. She will not do

any work so we had to pick a back- Six-year-old Liam Davies was almost

always absent. His mother was sent to prison because she didn't take

him to school. Now he lives with his father Jeremy and things have

changed. I thought I'd have big problems, but obviously he'd only

been in school 33 times in a year. But after the first week it was bit

funny for him, cos he wasn't used to it. He just turned round and

said to me, "I like school, dad." In fact he's told me he's made

friends and that. In the last eight months, he's learned to read, write.

He's flying through books now in school. I've taught him maths at

home and school's been teaching him. His maths have come on really well.

Liam now loves going to school and he goes almost every day. His

father can't thank the school enough. They helped me with him

first five weeks just getting him here. After the holidays, they

invited me to classes for two hours just to show me how they were

teaching him cos obviously a lot's changed since I was in school. And

it just taught me how to have more patience with him and learning him

to read at home and things. Are OK? Fair play to Ann, the support she's

given to my son has been unbelievable. And me, she'll phone

me up and say, "Is everything OK?" very supportive. It's been a big

change for us both in our lives. Ann's efforts have paid off, and

not just for Liam. Attendance at Goetre Primary has gone up from 85%

to 93%. Sure you haven't been With Ann, my workload has been

lightened by her presence in the school. I don't know what I'd do

without Ann. In this area that post is absolutely crucial. In early

intervention works best. By pointing out that children who are

constantly late and identifying those children and taking a step

back and thinking, what is the real reason behind it and making contact

with those families. Then you usually find they are living in

crisis of some sort and need some help. Early intervention works best.

Early intervention was a big part of Professor Reid's report for the

Welsh government on how to tackle truancy. His ideas have been

praised. But four years on, what's happening? I'm very disappointed

there's no national plan on teachers in schools on improving

attendance. Very disappointed that there's not much more emphasis on

earlier intervention. Is that a mistake? I think it's a very

serious mistake. We have had some short term gains at moment in

raising school attendance through the good work of staff in schools

and local authorities. But we haven't really addressed the

underlying causes. He believes success will come from having

specially-trained teachers in schools. The earlier the better.

But across Wales it's a postcode lottery on whether staff at your

school have those skills. Or have an Ann. I'll ask Miss Bates if you

can have some toast now, Josh. There are reasons behind people's

behaviour. Nobody decided to be the person they are. Some think there

is something striving them to be that way. If I can offer some

support to change that, then I'll continue to do that as long as the

funding is there for me to do it. She is funded by a government grant

rather than a council salary. There's no guarantee that her role

is permanent. Jobs like Ann's are not the only ones in short supply.

We've discovered that Education Welfare Officer posts across Wales

have dropped by 17% over the last five years when tackling truancy is

The theory is that more parents like Suzanne Lewis might have to

face jail if there aren't enough trained staff to intervene and

tackle truancy when it starts to become a problem. Mam shouldn't be

going through that. It's not her fault why this has happened. I do

feel guilty sometimes. Why has it come to this? I'm scared in case

they put her in prison. In Merthyr, overall attendance has improved,

especially in Secondary schools. But it's too little too late to

save the council from the consequences of the poor

performance of its education department. The local authority's

performance is unsatisfactory at key stages. Standards for learners

are unsatisfactory, exclusion rates are too high. Too many people are

not in education and training and attendance rates in primary schools

are unacceptably low. It's the fifth local authority in Wales to

fail an independent inspection. Across the country there could be

more so the local council are in the dock. But with so many failing,

is it all their fault? When Leighton Andrew visited a Merthyr

School recently, the council still had control of education in its

area. They don't now. Could this mean the imposition of penalty

fines for truancy? Or is he prepared to consider a wider

strategy? Why aren't you launching training policies as opposed to

consulting on penalty fines? Well, consultation on penalty notices is

just one aspect. We have launched a national strategy. There's no

national strategy. Well, there is a national strategy that was

developed by Professor Ken Reid. We've taken a number of steps.

was four years ago. No, we've taken them forward. The Welsh Government

say they're accrediting courses. Isn't that good enough? What the

Welsh Government has started to do is introduce a new masters level

programme for newly qualified teachers which will have a module

on behaviour and attendance. But there is no national strategy at

all yet on behaviour and attendance despite the assurances we were

given that it would happen four Back on the beat in Merthyr, the

truancy patrol is winding up for the day. We challenged 25 parents

and children, with reasons ranging from the legitimate to having been

given the day off to have their nails done. They're expecting soon

to find out if the Government is going to bring in penalty fines for

parents here and the throughout Wales. Meanwhile, with Merthyr's

education in crisis, Adrian waits see who his new boss might be.

Everyone needs to contribute to improve school attendance. Schools

are doing their bit. We are doing our bit. At the end of the day,

working together, we will get there. Families continue to count the cost

of truancy. Suzanne Lewis is a whisker way from jail, after

failing to turn up for her community service. We were having

trouble with Shauna. She was staying out overnight. It seemed to

be the days I was going to probation. I was not able to go to

probation at no and she was out. -- knowing she was out. She's been

given a second chance to do her community service. She'll be

cleaning the streets of Merthyr. This time she has avoided jail. For

15-year-old Shauna, the consequence of her truancy is beginning to sink

in. Sometimes it does upset me when I realise how good I was at maths

years ago. Compared to now. It has affected my future. It affects how

I'm going to get a job. Kyle's attendance has improved. Brandon's

is still hit and miss. Elliot has been going to school every day

since the truancy officers called. But will he stick at it? We're