A secondary school in South Yorkshire has been accused of snooping by monitoring families’ bins, cars and post in an attempt to crack down on pupil absences.
Staff at Astrea Academy Woodfields in Balby, Doncaster, have been visiting the homes of absent pupils to check bins are being put out, cars are on driveways, or if steam is being released from the boiler flue.
The National Education Union (NEU) criticised the tactics as invasive, although the school says they are attempting to crack down on unauthorised absences.
David Scales, the principal of Astrea Academy Woodfields, said: “Like schools across the country, our attendance team routinely does home visits to check on a child if they’ve not been in school for a few days.
“We do this because we care and because we want our students to be in school. Not just because they are there to learn, but it is a sad fact of life that being seen in school is too often one of the most significant protections a child has. When that falls away without good reason staff are right to be concerned.”
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, said that “tackling absences should not extend to snooping on families”.
He added: “This is a clear over-reach of how a school should behave. It will do nothing to build positive relationships with parents and students.”
Woodfields is one of the 17 academies overseen by the Astrea Academy Trust in South Yorkshire. It has more than 720 pupils enrolled.
In a video posted on X last week, Scales explained what the school was doing to tackle unauthorised absences. Scales said some parents would call into the school and lie about their child being ill. He said there was one instance where a family “impersonated” a doctor’s surgery.
Poor attendance has been an ongoing issue for the school, and was highlighted by Ofsted during a January 2023 inspection.
In their report from 2023, Ofsted said: “Pupils’ attendance remains too low. The number of pupils who do not attend school often enough is increasing. These pupils miss important learning and fall behind their peers.”
In a video posted on Thursday morning, Scales said the school was running an “attendance challenge” offering voucher rewards for students and families with good attendance.
Kebede said: “Fines and other aggressive measures do not tackle the causes of absenteeism. Schools put a great many hours into tackling absence and reaching out to parents, and this must be constructive and aim to build back to regular attendance.”
