School 'sends staff to check bins' to catch families going on term-time holidays
A school has allegedly sent staff to check if families' bins are being put out in a bid to catch them on term-time holidays.
Astrea Academy Woodfields in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, says the visits were conducted out of concerns for absent children. They would also check if post was still on doorsteps, cars are in driveways, lights are on or if steam is coming from boiler flues over several days.
It comes after the government announced fines for unauthorised absences would rise in England from £80 to £160 if not paid within 21 days. Head teacher David Scales spoke about the checks in a video posted to the school's X page while speaking about term time holidays. He also claimed some parents had been calling the school pretending to be a doctor's surgery in a scam to explain absences.
He said: "What parents are doing is they are saying it's an illness but actually the car is now no longer in the drive, the bins are no longer moving around the house and there's no activity in the house over a few days. So we are putting this down as an unauthorised holiday and we are issuing a fine."
Astrea Academy has been criticised for the move (Google Street View)Commenting on the phone "scam", he said parents had "changed the name on the number of the phone to say doctor's surgery". He said: "It isn't the doctor's calling us we know that this is a scam so it's an unauthorised absence."
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Mr Scales told the BBC the home checks were carried out "because we care and because we want our students to be in school". He said home visits were carried out by the school's attendance team "like schools across the country".
He added: "We have really strong relationships with the vast majority of our parents, but in a small number of cases, parents are opting to keep their child away from school without a valid reason. We've been very open with our families that as well as celebrating good attendance, we will call out unauthorised absence."
He said highlighting such examples is done to show "this simply is not acceptable". According to the Astrea Academy Trust, 92 students at Woodfields have had at least one day of unauthorised holiday this school year, with 58 discovered through house visits.
The National Education Union's Doncaster branch and district secretary Fiona Campbell accused Woodfields of publicly shaming families and said it would undermine relationships with them. She said while lots of schools are seeing "challenging attendance figures", others are "not resorting to invasive snooping tactics".
Ms Campbell added that many schools recognise the "difficulties parents face" in trying to arrange family time together. Mr Scales' video has been criticised by the social media platform's users. One person said he was "stalking" students and parents, and that there could be a case of criminal harassment to be heard.
A Department for Education spokesperson told the MailOnline it promoted a "support-first approach" and backed schools and local authorities that worked with families to improve attendance. "Where appropriate, this could include home visits and door-knocking services," the spokesperson added.
The Mirror has contacted the DoE for further comment.
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