Truancy

It's always distressing to find out your child has been playing truant. Whatever the root cause, never condone truancy. Not only will it obviously have an adverse effect on school work, but all the evidence suggests that truants, with long purposeless days to fill, often turn to vandalism and crime.

Many schools have excellent, and sometimes ingenious, strategies for coping with truancy - one comprehensive in North Wales, for example, sends a text message to the parent whenever a pupil has an unexplained absence. But no system will be truly effective unless parents play their part. So be meticulous about writing absence notes and don't hesitate to contact the school if you suspect your child is missing lessons. Make sure that the child realises that you and their teachers are keeping an eye on their attendance - children only truant when they think they won't be found out.

And take a look at the messages you put out to your children: Welsh Education Minister Jane Davidson, who has announced a crackdown on truancy in Wales, is particularly bothered about the number of parents who take family holidays in term time.

Condoning truancy: a bad idea

A recent Government survey revealed that nearly 80% of truants stay off school with their parent's approval which, of course, is against the law. It's such a major cause of concern that the Government is considering plans to reduce or even stop the child benefit paid to parents of regular truants. What's more, it's estimated that 20% of criminal damage, 40% of street crime, 25% of burglaries, and over 30% of car thefts are carried out by 10-16 year-olds during school hours.