Is your child missing out?

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Families in Rochdale, Heywood and Middleton are being urged to ensure their child gets a proper education.

Across the country it's thought that tens of thousands of children are being kept out of the classroom due to family issues, travel commitments or failure to register for school in the first place.

Now Rochdale Council is urging families to come forward to let them know if their child isn't registered as part of a programme of activity to make sure all children in the Borough get the education they are entitled to.

The move is just one of a series of measures to ensure that children missing from education are found and given help to get back to school. 

Councillor Irene Davidson, Cabinet member for Children, Schools and Families, said: "Education is a vitally important part of a child's development and it is both unfair and illegal for children to be missing out in this way.

"When a child is re-located after becoming missing from education, the Council offers support to both the parents and the children to make sure that the move back into school is a smooth one.  There is no reason not to come forward and do what's best for your child." 

There are many reasons why some children are not registered for education:

• Some simply move house and fail to notify the authority of the change.
• Some fail to start school in the first place.
• Some parents withdraw their children from mainstream education (this is only an issue if there is no full time alternative in place).
• Some take extended holidays or move abroad and do not let the Council know. 

Very rarely there are, of course, more serious circumstances where a child could go missing - where a child missing from education could be a missing child.

If you are the parent of a child over the age of five who is not registered for education, or if you know of a child in your family or community who might be missing out, please contact the Council's Pupil Welfare and Inclusion Service.

Email: cme@rochdale.gov.uk
Tel: 01706 925982