Posters Step Up Bid To Find Children Missing School

Posters are going up across Redcar and Cleveland in an attempt to track down youngsters who are failing to turn up at school.

Hundreds of movie posters are on display in every school across the borough, as well as in libraries, leisure centres, doctors' surgeries, accident and emergency units and community centres.

A new telephone helpline has been set up and a dedicated team of monitoring and tracking officers is trying to find children missing from education.

Investigators have been working from a list of 33 children who have failed to attend school.

Among the 13 youngsters traced in the past 12 months, eight were members of the travelling community, two were relocated due to domestic issues and the others had simply moved out of the area.

Coun Ian Jeffrey, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council cabinet member for education, said: "We are determined to bring this issue into really sharp focus and our message is simple - do you know a child who is missing education?

"This is all about ensuring children are receiving an education to which they are entitled and making sure their safety and welfare are not put at any risk."

The posters are urging anyone who knows that a child is missing school, for any reason, to get in touch so the council can investigate.

Angela Conley, the council's inclusion services manager, said: "Children can go missing for any number of reasons. It could be as simple as a child who has moved out of the area.

"We have been working on a caseload of 33 children, of all ages, from reception upwards, and we have managed to close half of those.

"Now we want to raise the awareness of our work and highlight how we operate in partnership with all sorts of agencies, linking social care, health, education and police."

May 13, 2008