The headteacher of a Bradford school with the second worst truancy record in England today hit out at some parents for failing to send their children to school.

Mr Neil Donkin's school, Eccleshill Upper was one of nine of the district's schools revealed to be among the worst for truancy out of 200 schools nation-wide.

Last year Eccleshill was came bottom of the national truancy league and this year it moved only one place up the ladder and was 39th worst for its GCSE results.

As a district Bradford had the second worst truancy rate in the country last year, beaten only by Hull.

This year Bradford's absenteeism rate has improved and it is sixth from bottom.

In terms of GCSE results, Bradford came 136th out of 150 local education authorities this year.

Last year, before local government reorganisation, the authority was 12th from the bottom of a 131 strong list.

But there was some good news for the district with Bradford Girls' Grammar school coming top of the league scoring 100 per cent at A*-C at GCSE. And the state funded Dixon's City technology College came in locally with the fourth best GCSE results - after three private funded schools, nudging them into the list of the country's top performing comprehensive schools.

Mr Donkin defended his school's position and said some parents should shoulder some of the responsibility.

"By a long chalk we are not the worst school in Bradford. We have a number of children who simply do not believe education is for them and some of their parents are agreeing with their children and failing to take action," he said.

Nearly one pupil in four was absent on any given day from the Harrogate Road school, according to Mr Donkin and poor attendance is inextricably linked to poor exams results.

There were 48 pupils on the school roll last year who attended less than half the whole time they should have been in class.

Out of that group, only one pupil got a GCSE in the grade A*-C range, said Mr Donkin.

Huge strides have been made in terms of improving attendance and therefore achievement since last year, said Mr Donkin.

A system of calling parents of children with an unexplained absence on the first day had been set up and educational social workers have been working with families of students who persistently stay away from school.

The district also came 14 from the bottom of the national examination league in the country and Bowling Community College, Tong Upper and Buttershaw Upper also features in both list.

Mr Donkin's views were shared by Mr Ian Davey, secretary of the Bradford Branch of the National Association of School Masters and Union of Women Teachers, said: "The LEA and schools should not take all the blame. Some has to go to parents especially for truancy. I think there is no doubt that some parents have the wrong attitude."

Education Committee Chairman, Coun Jim Flood, promised action would be taken to cut down on the number of children missing school.

"We work closely with schools to support their efforts to address absenteeism. We have to improve attendance rates if we are to ensure that pupils do not miss out on vital educational opportunities."

The Government has pledged £500 million to tackle such issues and Bradford had applied for a slice of the funding being made available.

But Conservative Group Leader, Coun Margaret Eaton, said urgent action was needed to address obvious failures by Bradford's Local Education Authority.

"It is absolutely dire and it just seems to get worse year on year."

The Schools Review would not address fundamental problems of under-achievement in the district, she added.

"We need action, not just a paper exercise.

"We need to find out what is causing this failure. To say Bradford is a deprived area is not good enough."

However the news was not all bad for Bradford with many schools revealed to be getting some good GCSE results.

The controversial league tables published today are hated by teaching unions who condemn them as crass and unreliable, failing to paint a true picture of achievement in a school.

Equally opposition leaders and advocates of 'parent power' claim the tables reveal excellence and encourage complacent schools to pull their socks up.

Bottom of the class

T&A Opinion

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