Prison awaits for parents of truants

7:00pm Saturday 15th September 2012 in Bridgwater Area News

Cllr Frances Nicholson Cllr Frances Nicholson

ADULTS responsible for truant schoolchildren are being warned they could go to prison.

The message comes after figures show that above average numbers of Somerset children skive school.

Parents of AWOL pupils have already been facing the consequences of their youngsters bunking off, with fines, warnings and pending court cases – but, in the worst instances, they could be jailed for up to three months.

In a week of sweeps in April by education attendance officers, supported by police, 118 children were stopped in the street or found at home.

Since then, school attendance has improved for the majority but legal action has been taken against 14 parents, including five in the Sedge-moor and Mendip areas.

The parents of another 12 children in Sedgemoor and Mendip have received written warnings or penalty notices.

Somerset County Council cabinet member Cllr Frances Nicholson said: “I’m glad the follow-up work from the attendance sweeps has been to such good effect with improved attendance by the vast majority of pupils identified earlier this year as being truant.

“It’s regrettable that, in some cases, further action has become necessary, but I entirely support officers in their efforts to get all children to school.”

Another countywide sweep will be launched shortly on top of regular monitoring of unauthorised absences by school education attendance officers.

The Somerset rate of persistently truant children is 6.2%, above the England average of 6.1%.

Comments(6)

BaldCarl2 says...
8:54pm Sat 15 Sep 12

Good

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gemlou95 says...
1:52am Sun 16 Sep 12

it's stupid, in primary school students then yeah fair enough parents should be punished. but once they hit 12/13 most children start to rebel, therefore there going to do it whether there parents agree or not. THE CHILDREN THAT ARE SKIVING SHOULD BE PUNISHED NOT THE PARENTS. obviously children cant be fined, but what about community service or chuck them in prison for 3 months instead. i use to skive myself when i was in school and no matter how much my mum got fined, i still kept skiving. THEIR PARENTS CAN NOT BE BLAMED FOR THEIR EVERY ACTION. the government needs to sort thereself out, because i can think of a million ways to sort alot of problems out that will be more effective and that will prevent people from getting punished for things which may not be in their control!!!!

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mikeymike says...
4:38pm Sun 16 Sep 12

So when mum pushed the little cherub through the school gates, is the school not then responsible for them?

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Snoopy11 says...
7:14pm Sun 16 Sep 12

Honestly I can say that this is the wrong way of doing things, I left school 4 years ago and I constantly skived, my parents always got me in, but I always found a way to go home and get out again, My parents tried the best they could but it was not their fault, the only way they can see whose fault it is, is go on a case by case basis and of course that won't happen, the fault can lie with both parties.

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daveman says...
2:07am Mon 17 Sep 12

Not just truanters parents, how about putting the a1 mot center staff in prison too for wrecking customers vehicles, nicking catalytic converters etc.

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BaldyLocks says...
10:28am Mon 17 Sep 12

gemlou95 wrote:
it's stupid, in primary school students then yeah fair enough parents should be punished. but once they hit 12/13 most children start to rebel, therefore there going to do it whether there parents agree or not. THE CHILDREN THAT ARE SKIVING SHOULD BE PUNISHED NOT THE PARENTS. obviously children cant be fined, but what about community service or chuck them in prison for 3 months instead. i use to skive myself when i was in school and no matter how much my mum got fined, i still kept skiving. THEIR PARENTS CAN NOT BE BLAMED FOR THEIR EVERY ACTION. the government needs to sort thereself out, because i can think of a million ways to sort alot of problems out that will be more effective and that will prevent people from getting punished for things which may not be in their control!!!!
Your illiteracy is evidence of your failure to attend school.
So you can think of a million reasons.....bet you can't.

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