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News release
A partnership approach aims to promote school attendance in West Lothian.
The new strategy involves joint working between school staff, social and health care workers, parents and young people to tackle any attendance issues at an early stage.
West Lothian Council's Education Executive approved the scheme recently, which takes a positive and supportive approach to the issue with a three stage intervention plan starting when a child?s attendance drops below 90 per cent.
Executive Councillor for Education, Andrew Miller, said: "Attendance in school is vital to ensure that every child in West Lothian has the best possible start in life.
"I'm confident this new attendance policy will have a positive impact on tackling the often complex issue in our schools, nurseries and pre school centres.
"By working together with all parties, we can effectively look at non-attendance and any underlying issues that prevent a child engaging with education, and address them in an appropriate manner to prevent problems escalating."
A joint working group developed the new policy, which also ties in with the aims set out in the Scottish Government's "Included, Engaged and Involved, Part 1: Attendance in Scottish Schools" paper.
Date: 24-09-2008
