Education Welfare Service
Education Welfare Service
What the Education Welfare Service does, how to make a pupil tracking referral, and tell us about an addition to or deletion from your school's roll.
Penalty Notices
Schools are currently closed to many children because of national coronavirus restrictions.
We won’t issue penalty notices for children who don’t attend school during this time.
Schools should provide remote learning for children who aren’t in school. Read What should remote learning look like on the Department for Education blog.
Email educationpenaltynotices@bristol.gov.uk if you have any questions about penalty notices.
What the Education Welfare Service does
The Education Welfare Service (EWS):
- gives high quality professional support to make sure that parents and carers fulfil their statutory obligation to send their child to school regularly
- tracks pupils who go missing from school
- makes sure that young people who have part-time jobs or perform in entertainment are safe and protected from harm
Before you fill in a form
You must read:
- the Children Missing Education BCC Guidance (pdf, 1MB) (opens new window) for adding and deleting pupils from roll at non-standard transition points
- the Ethnicity Codes document (pdf, 102KB) (opens new window)
Make a Pupil Tracking referral
Use this form when:
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you've been advised the pupil has moved out of the area but you do not have a new address for them:
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check Children Missing Education guidance: reasons 5, 6 and 8, before making a Pupil Tracking Referral
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the pupil hasn't returned from a planned leave of absence and your school’s reasonable enquiries haven't located the pupil
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check Children Missing Education guidance: reason 6, before making a Pupil Tracking Referral
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the pupil has ceased to attend the school and you've not been able to trace the pupil despite making reasonable enquiries
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check Children Missing Education guidance: reasons 5, 6 and 8, before making the Pupil Tracking Referral
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Make a pupil tracking referral
If you see an error on the form try resetting the form by holding down the 'ctrl' key and pressing 'F5' key.
Tell us about a deletion from your school's roll
Use this form if:
- you're deleting a pupil's name from the admissions register at a non-standard transition point
- you've sent us a Pupil Tracking Referral form, and we've agreed the deletion
- you've sent us a Child Missing Education Referral form because the pupil has moved out of the area and you have confirmation of their new address
If you see an error on the form try resetting the form by holding down the 'ctrl' key and pressing 'F5' key.
Tell us about an addition to your school's roll
Use this form when:
- you're adding a pupil's name to the admissions register at a non-standard transition point
- your school’s Information Management System, for example SIMS, isn't connected to Bristol City Council via XVault
If you see an error on the form try resetting the form by holding down the 'ctrl' key and pressing 'F5' key.
School attendance
All children should go to school every day unless there's an unavoidable reason like illness.
Pupils should never miss school for reasons like shopping, birthdays or to wait in for a repair person or a delivery.
Parents and carers commit an offence if a child doesn’t attend school regularly and the school hasn't agreed the absence.
Downloadable files
- Code of conduct for penalty notices (pdf, 182KB) (opens new window)
- Strategies in reducing unauthorised absence (pdf, 31KB) (opens new window)
- Who is a parent? (pdf, 124KB) (opens new window)
- Penalty notice school attendance leaflet (pdf, 359KB) (opens new window)
- Irregular attendance referral form (word doc, 200KB) (opens new window)
Contact information
Education Welfare Service (CH)
PO Box 3399
Bristol City Council
Bristol, BS1 9NE
Opening Hours
Mon to Thurs: 8.30am to 4.30pm
Fri: 8.30am to 4pm
A duty Welfare Officer is available to answer queries:
Mon to Thurs: 3pm to 4.30pm
Fri: 3pm to 4pm.
Email: education.welfare@bristol.gov.uk
Tel: 0117 352 1438