Star Comment: Concerning figures on education

With that in mind, it is deeply concerning to see new figures relating to the number of fines handed out to parents for failing ensure their children attend school.

In some areas of the region the number of fines more than doubled over the last year, with more than 1,600 handed out in Staffordshire.

And a total of 844 parents were fined in Dudley, a massive 128 per cent increase on last year's figures.

There issue of term time absences has been debated long and hard over the past few years.

The discussion has mainly centred around parents pulling their children out of school in an effort to take advantage of a cheaper holiday.

This often occurs towards the end of term at times when limited classwork in done in schools.

However, there is a major difference between a child taking a few days off for a holiday during term time, and those who are kept away from school for lengthy periods.

For a child, missing prolonged periods of school time can have serious consequences.

It can have a detrimental impact on achievement.

Many headteachers argue that youngsters should aim to attend every possible school day. They cite data they claim proves missing even a few days of school can lead to lower success rates.

And last year the Department for Education published research which showed each extra day missed reduced the chances of a pupil gaining five GCSEs at grade A-C.

But absenteeism also fosters negative attitudes towards school.

The more time off a child has, the less likely they are to want to return to education.

Children who are regularly away from the classroom are deprived of the opportunity to build strong relationships with their peers.

In many cases, their ambitions can be dramatically reduced as they fall further and further behind other children in their year group.

The fact that the number of fines for absenteeism has risen so sharply paints a worrying picture of the low value that some parents place on their children's education.

We understand there are circumstances when parents are unable to send their children to school.

But regular school attendance should be considered a priority. In today's society, we simply cannot afford to allow our children to fall behind where education is concerned.