Traveller Children and School Admission and Attendance

We are committed to increasing pupil attendance in Norfolk. Effective partnership between support services and schools is a means of achieving this.

The attached document Traveller Children and School Admission and Attendance has been produced as a means of clarifying current legislation and procedures which regard to the attendance and achievement of Traveller children, where provision also needs to be made to accommodate a nomadic lifestyle which is both legal and valid.

In general the aim should always be to ensure that Traveller children, in common with all other children, attend school as regularly and as frequently as possible. A balance needs to be struck between a need for action in individual cases, and adopting a sensitive and sympathetic approach which recognises lifestyle and cultural traditions of the family concerned.

The main points are set out on the front sheet, with detail contained within the main document and a checklist of good practice and proforma letters in the appendices.

I hope you find this guidance particularly helpful, if you have any queries or require further support on these matters please contact Lorna Daymond at the Traveller Education Service tel: 01603 766133.