As part of its moves to tackle absenteeism, the Lincoln Anglican Academy Trust surveyed parents to find out what they think – and why they might be keeping their children off school. Dorothy Lepkowska find out more
Causes: Disadvantage – poverty – is often a root cause of children failing to turn up to school, as families struggle with day-to-day living - Adobe Stock

“I read an amazing book over the summer holiday,” says Tamara Allen, deputy chief executive of the Lincoln Anglican Academy Trust (LAAT), holding up Poor by Katriona O’Sullivan.

“She writes about her abject poverty as a child, having dirty clothes, no money and her parents being in and out of rehab.

“It’s raw and it’s out there. We tend to use the word ‘disadvantage’ in schools, but it’s not just disadvantage. Some of our students are poor, and most children living in poverty are also coping with other problems.

“Often it is teachers who give those children their dignity, by noticing them, and seeing something in them – and even providing a clean uniform. But the children need to be in school.”

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