A Wagga public school has launched an ambitious plan to help reduce truancy in the city.
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Wagga High School is aiming to work with local shopping centres to effectively ban students from patronising their premises during school hours.
Despite having the best attendance rates of the three public high schools, with 88.7 per cent recorded in 2014, the institution is drawing a line in the sand for students who choose to skip school.
Kooringal High School’s attendance rate in 2014 was 86.2 per cent and Mount Austin High School recorded a rate of 80.4 per cent. The state average for high schools in 2014 was 90 per cent.
Wagga Marketplace centre manager Maria Sharman told The Daily Advertiser she had received a letter from Wagga High School.
She said the idea was good, but execution could prove difficult.
“Whilst we endorse the actions of any high school to take steps to minimise truancy and agree that students should be at school during school hours, at the same time this is very difficult to enforce at a centre level,” Ms Sharman said.
“Our security are there to enforce quiet enjoyment for our customers and retailers alike. If they come across anyone visiting the centre that is causing disruption they will act on this, however, this is not restricted to high school students alone.”
The method to curb students loitering in malls has been effective in metropolitan centres, but has not been rolled out in Wagga before.
A Department of Education spokesman said public schools actively support positive school attendance programs.
“In addition to in-school initiatives and wider programs - like home school liaison officers who work with families with attendance issues – some schools or groups of schools work proactively with their local communities,” he said.
“In some communities, local businesses support positive school attendance by agreeing not to serve school students during school hours unless they are with parents or have a pass identifying that they are permitted to be out of school, such as students who study flexible programs at TAFE or over extended hours.”
When contacted, a Wagga High School spokesperson confirmed the school had contacted the Marketplace to help enforce the ban, but could not comment further as its principal, Mick Powell, was on leave.