Daughter’s poor school attendance lands mum in court

Daughter’s poor school attendance lands mum in court

A Carmarthen mum has been punished over her daughter’s poor school attendance.

The mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, must pay nearly £800 for failing to ensure she attended regularly.

If a child of compulsory school age who is a registered pupil at a school fails to attend regularly, his or her parent is guilty of an offence.

In a prosecution led by Carmarthenshire Council, Llanelli magistrates were told that out of 146 sessions between September 9 and December 22 the year 11 pupil had only attended on 62 occasions – less than half the attendance rate.

No response has been received by the mum despite education welfare officers trying to engage with her on numerous occasions.

The mother, who failed to turn up for the court hearing, was fined £660 and ordered to pay £68 costs and £66 victim surcharge.

The council’s executive board member for education, Cllr Glynog Davies said: “The attendance of this pupil has fallen below an acceptable level this academic year. It is the duty of every parent or guardian to ensure their child attends school and gets an education. We, as an authority, do our very best to try and support families in difficulty and going to court is always a last resort. Unfortunately in this case our officers have worked and supported the family to try to improve the pupil’s school attendance but this has been to no avail.”