Truant's mum fined in Llanelli
A Llanelli mum has been fined more than £400 for allowing her daughter to truant from school.
She was convicted at Llanelli Magistrates Court in her absence of an offence contrary to Section 444(1) of the Education Act, 1996.
The court was told that the girl was absent from school more than three quarters of the time.
An education welfare officer had tried on numerous occasions to engage with the family but to no avail.
A final warning was given informing her parent of court proceedings unless there was an improvement in attendance.
Action had previously been taken by the local authority for non-attendance at school.
The mother was fined £435 and ordered to pay £100 prosecution costs.
The local authority’s senior education welfare officer Avril Jones said: “We prefer to work with families to get children to attend school regularly and we only prosecute as a last resort. We had tried everything before bringing this prosecution.”
Education executive board member Cllr Gwynne Wooldridge said: “There is a huge amount of support available to parents and we do explore all options before resorting to prosecution.
“But we need to make sure pupils are in school. Their education is being damaged if they are absent, pupils who regularly miss school quickly fall behind in a packed curriculum.
“If parents refuse to respond to any kind of help we have no option other than to prosecute and we will not hesitate to do so.”
She was convicted at Llanelli Magistrates Court in her absence of an offence contrary to Section 444(1) of the Education Act, 1996.
The court was told that the girl was absent from school more than three quarters of the time.
An education welfare officer had tried on numerous occasions to engage with the family but to no avail.
A final warning was given informing her parent of court proceedings unless there was an improvement in attendance.
Action had previously been taken by the local authority for non-attendance at school.
The mother was fined £435 and ordered to pay £100 prosecution costs.
The local authority’s senior education welfare officer Avril Jones said: “We prefer to work with families to get children to attend school regularly and we only prosecute as a last resort. We had tried everything before bringing this prosecution.”
Education executive board member Cllr Gwynne Wooldridge said: “There is a huge amount of support available to parents and we do explore all options before resorting to prosecution.
“But we need to make sure pupils are in school. Their education is being damaged if they are absent, pupils who regularly miss school quickly fall behind in a packed curriculum.
“If parents refuse to respond to any kind of help we have no option other than to prosecute and we will not hesitate to do so.”
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