Parents bribed with curry to send children to school

Schools have cooked up a novel idea to improve their children’s attendance at school. Parents are being offered the chance to win a free curry if they get their children to class more often. Local restaurants have joined the scheme by offering a meal to mums and dads. It has proved so successful that truancy rates by persistent offenders at one school have been cut by more than half.

But the scheme has not curried favour with everyone. One teaching union branded it “bribery” to reward parents for fulfilling their legal obligation to take their children to school. The scheme was launched at Glenfield Infant School in Bitterne last September after average attendance figures dropped below the recommended level set by Ofsted.

Every youngster at the school with a 95 per cent attendance rate is entered into a draw once a term along with those whose truancy has dramatically declined. Good behaviour is also taken into consideration. The winner’s parents receive a meal voucher to the value of about £40.



The cost of the scheme has been met by Indian restaurant POSH, with no money taken from the school’s budget. Five sets of parents have so far received a meal voucher at POSH in Southampton, which also entitles them to alcoholic drinks.

Head teacher Joanne Dorricott, who came up with the scheme, said it was not bribery but a reward and incentive for parents.

She said: “We are delighted. Even if we can make a difference to one child it’s good news. The number of persistent absentee children has decreased by half since the autumn term. We don’t want parents to think that they are not good at getting their children to school. But we need to imbed how important it is to get children to school at this age. Otherwise we have lost them.”