The law puts the responsibility for children attending school firmly on parents.
If your child has to miss school for legitimate reasons, for example, a dentist’s or doctor’s appointment, you should inform the school however, the DCSF does not accept that shopping or birthdays are good reasons for missing school.
By law, a parent is responsible for making sure their children (up to 16) get a full-time education. If your child does not attend school regularly, the local Children’s Services can take legal action against you.
The Children’s Services is responsible for making sure that parents fulfil their responsibilities. Even if your child is missing school without your knowledge, you are still responsible, and could be committing an offence.
Head teachers are now able to issue penalty notices of up to £100 to parents who fail to take responsibility for their child’s regular school attendance. The Children’s Services can usually offer support and help, from among other people an Educational Social Worker to help you to find ways of stopping your child truanting.
As a parent of a truanting child may also be asked to enter into a Parenting Contract, which is a contract between the parent and the school (or Children’s Services). The parent agrees to make sure the child arrives at school on time and goes to bed at a set time. However, the Children’s Services could prosecute a parent if all else fails.
Parents can be fined up to £2,500 or imprisoned for up to three months for failing to ensure that their child attends school regularly and magistrates can impose a Parenting Order, which means that a parent has to go to a parenting class.
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This link is a long document but worth a read if you want more information on this subject. The link coming up below this post is not working so sorry
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