Teachers at school knocking on doors to get pupils out of bed in mornings

TEACHERS at a secondary school are knocking on doors to get pupils out of bed in the mornings.

Staff make home visits every day a youngster is absent without a good reason.

SWNS

Teachers from Cumberland Community School in the ‘Battle Bus’, calling on absent kids[/caption]

They will even go in the school mini-bus — dubbed the Battle Bus — to call on kids with a note from parents if they are regularly off.

The hardline step has seen Cumberland Community School in Newham, East London, go from among the worst to the best in the country for GCSE results, with pupils often winning scholarships to top fee-paying schools such as Eton.

Headteacher Ekhlas Rahman said: “When children are not at school they miss out on learning crucial to their development. We’ve got used to the most outrageous excuses for not being at school. We go out knocking on doors to get the students out of bed.

“These visits also give teachers the chance to talk to families to discover what are the barriers for children coming to school.”

 Community Schools Trust chief Simon Elliott said: “Those doorstep conversations are crucial in making sure we offer the right support to families.”