Fines for parents not sending children to school.
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The debate over parents being fined for children not in school has had a major gap in information provided.
1. Many of the children not attending school actually have a Social Worker supporting the family. If the family are to be fined does this mean that the Social Workers are not carrying out the full extent of support required (ould this ink to Clr Kings earlier concern over case loads)
2. There are a significant number of pupils in residential care in the Wrexham area – will the Care Home provider be fined for non attendance?
3. Many children and young people are carers for an adult or sibling in the family and their care role may highlight other problems in the family.
4. There seems to be lack of clarity that the level of family support is available within the Education Social Workers team to meet the demands that may arise.Just a money making scheme for the council.
It’ll only be the responsible parents who pay the fines, those that take the kids out for the last week of term for a family holiday. Those parents that can’t be bothered getting out of bed to take their kids to school and repeatedly ignore phone calls and letters about non attendance are hardly going to pay a fine and the council won’t chase it.
I’d quite happily take mine out of school for a once a year family holiday and confidently know their attendance will still be significantly higher than the majority of others in their class who don’t have an annual holiday.People were talking about this on Facebook the other day and everyone keeps mentioning taking the kids out of school for holiday. This has nothing to do with kids going on holiday in term time and everything to do with kids who don’t go to school and the school are not informed. This is what is an unauthorised absence. When you take your kids out for holiday, you usually tell the school, which means it’s authorised.
Quite frankly I thought this already existed anyway, along with a possible prison term for parents if kids completely refuse to go to school.
@justjojo2011 16531 wrote:
People were talking about this on Facebook the other day and everyone keeps mentioning taking the kids out of school for holiday. This has nothing to do with kids going on holiday in term time and everything to do with kids who don’t go to school and the school are not informed. This is what is an unauthorised absence. When you take your kids out for holiday, you usually tell the school, which means it’s authorised.
Quite frankly I thought this already existed anyway, along with a possible prison term for parents if kids completely refuse to go to school.Not all parents get permission to take children out for holidays, some are refused but still take them.
As Jo pointed out the legal framework is already in place – this is Wrexham Council doubling the fine. The court action quite rightly is a last resort for persistent offenders. But surely at this point you would hope that Social Service would be involved with the family as there have to be other underling causes — i the child being bulled, are they staying at home to look after someone – there could be lots of reasons why a child is not in school and careful consideration should be given by the Council to what support they are providing.
Why do you persist in submitting incorrect information Dylan in your crusade to denigrate WCBC?
You state:- “this is Wrexham Council doubling the fine” where have you plucked that one from?
Obviously you are unaware of or choose to not acknowledge the existence of the Welsh Government document “Guidance on penalty notices for regular non-attendance at school”
The document is quite specific on the level of fixed penalty charges (including time limitations) that are appropriate in the circumstances. WCBC’s penalties are totally compliant with that.
Furthermore, the hypothetical contingencies you outline in your first post are also covered fully in the said document. But you would know that, wouldn’t you?
How does the saying go? “You can fool some of the people some of the time………….”Guidance is WG – implementation and interpretation and choice of fine level is WCBC.
As I stated earlier this should be a last resort- if a family end up in this position you need to ask what has happened to the family support service that should be assisting them in the first place.Adherence to recognised guidance is pretty much always considered to be best practice in industry, commerce and indeed by the Courts. WCBC are doing this!,
When ARE you going to stop prevaricating and submitting totally inaccurate information?Fingers crossed they bring in a similar system for councillors who miss meetings without good reason.
@dagg 16535 wrote:
Not all parents get permission to take children out for holidays, some are refused but still take them.
If I go into a bank and TELL them I’m going to rob it is that an authorised withdrawal?
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