Because GCSE students are still children, so yes, you do have some responsibility to make sure she attends.
I taught GCSE students for 35 years and I never considered them to be "children". Yes, I'm aware that the legal definition of a child is anyone under 18 but that's so they can benefit from child protection legislation, not because they really are. If adults think of and treat adolescents as children then they will start acting like children. Treat them as if they are more grown-up and they will act appropriately.
But yes, parents do have the responsibility for ensuring their children are educated, until they reach the school leaving age.
It was shitty in the past. Kids were left alone to their own devices too much.
And now they are wrapped in cotton wool and never given the opportunity to take any responsibility.
It's all part of the babyfication of our young adults.
Exactly! And it's wrong.
I get them for my sixth former.
This is really weird. Post-16 education is the student's responsibility, not the parents'.
Schools don't tend to have the kids' phone numbers and kids don't tend to check their school email regularly. The best way to get a message to them at home is through the parents.
But this is true. And I wouldn't expect the school to have the phone numbers of their pupils. Different for sixth-form, of course.
By same principle, would you expect the dr or hospital to text your minor dd if she needed treatment or a procedure? It's her body after all.
Actually, assuming she's Gillick competent (and at 15 or nearly that's probably the case) she can see a doctor and consent to treatment without parental knowledge so yes, that's probably reasonable. It may even be normal procedure - there's a notice in my local health centre explaining to young people about confidentiality and how their parents will not be informed.