As part of Cumbria County Council's school attendance campaign, six brand new books that have been written for children to highlight the importance of going to school will be launched on Wednesday.
School children from a number of primary schools will be at Carlisle, Whitehaven and Barrow libraries from 10am on Wednesday to see the books for the first time. The SAM campaign is based on different animals, with SAM (School Attendance Matters) being the main character. Sam is a cheetah and his message is 'don't cheat on your child's education'.
Over the last 2 - 3 years education welfare officers have been working together with schools, talking to children about the issues around school attendance. Some of these issues have been incorporated in the story books that will be now be available in libraries and also used in assemblies and projects in primary schools across Cumbria. Furry animals and puppets of SAM and his gang will also be used alongside the story books to get our message across in a fun way that school attendance really does matter.
County councillor Philip Chappelhow, cabinet spokesman for children's services said:
"Creating a character like SAM for this campaign was a great idea. Everyone will recognise him and can identify with what he stands for. Regular school attendance is so important for children to make sure they get the best possible opportunity to achieve their full potential. Its great to see that children were also involved in helping to write the stories to go with this campaign. These books enable us to get an important message across in such a fun way. I'm sure the children will really enjoy them."
Cumbria's campaign coincides with the DfES' launch of its Every Lesson Counts campaign. This campaign focuses on encouraging parents to avoid unnecessary absence for medical or dental appointments, term time holidays etc and encouraging young people in secondary schools to avoid peer pressure and being drawn into absence. Check our www.dfes.gov.uk for more information.