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Original poster

How Many days off School Before the police come to lock me up

28 replies

rollsroyce · 04/06/2008 13:57

OK short story a friend i was helping out admitted to me that her children have had 45 days off school since last Sept,she's had a marrage break up and been off the rails generally,One of the kids told me the Police had been concerning this situation.
The children are 6 and 9 yrs.
Whats bought this to mind is thst she's talking about going away on holiday with the children in term time again.
Does anyone know what the outcome may be Legally ?

OP posts:
titchy · 04/06/2008 14:11

So out of roughly 32 weeks they have been off 9 weeks

Don't know about the police but without a doubt the Education Welfare Officer will be aware and probably have visited. Is this what the child meant by police? EWO can seem scarily like police to a child.

titchy · 04/06/2008 14:13

Worse case scenario I guess is the mother would be prosecuted for not making sure her dcs were educated.

Original poster
rollsroyce · 04/06/2008 14:19

titchy No the child was sure it was the Police .
Yes 9 weeks ish not always full weekd sometime mon and tue usually after a bad weekend!
My problem is i want to help but i a bit scared,as i feel i could be dragged right in.

OP posts:
RosaLuxembourg · 04/06/2008 14:22

Prosecution would come at the end of a process that involves family and school and education welfare officer trying to sort the problem out first. She would be given warnings about what would happen if the children's attendence drops below a certain figure. The school could decide to take her to court if she is not cooperating in ensuring that her children attend school - imprisonment would be a very last resort, normally she would be fined the first time.

Original poster
rollsroyce · 04/06/2008 14:24

She wants me to help as a part time childminder while she gets herself together and i'm concerned i may be draged in.

OP posts:
RosaLuxembourg · 04/06/2008 14:26

She needs to be straight with you about what exactly has been going on then. Has she told you about the police visit, or have you just heard it from the children?

Original poster
rollsroyce · 04/06/2008 14:26

Rosa; ball park figure what is the certain figure ?

OP posts:
pooka · 04/06/2008 14:27

Blimey. The children need to NOT be having a holiday during term time, if would add to the already shocking amount of time they've missed.

Is there any way you could help (or others, family, friends, whoever) to make sure the children get to school in the morning. Must be horrible having a bad marriage break-up, but to allow it to effect the children on such a basic level as to interrupt their education is terrible. So if your friend is in a rock bottom, can't leave the house situation, someone else can try to help make sure the children are out of the situation and learning?

I would have thought that contact from the police/ed welfare officer would have given the jolt needed to make her realise that further school missed is a bad idea.

Original poster
rollsroyce · 04/06/2008 14:29

Thanks for your response, I'm concerned even if she isnt so please keep the advise coming. Have to go out now to dentist, will check again later

OP posts:
LynetteScavo · 04/06/2008 14:31

The Education Welfare Officer won't be called in untill the child has less than 75%, attendance per term.

RosaLuxembourg · 04/06/2008 14:40

Different schools and local authoritie will have different procedures. Generally the school will take action after around 10 days of unauthorised absence and if things don't improve the EWO will be called in. They will try to arrange meetings with the parent to sort out the problem. The police are really only involved if things have gone a LONG WAY down the line and the parent is consistently refusing to cooperate eg not attending meetings, ignoring letters etc. It isn't a case of 'your child has only 75% attendance this term so wham, see you in court'. It is more, 'we have tried and tried to get this parent to cooperate and they are blanking us out'.

LynetteScavo · 04/06/2008 18:22

rollsroyce, in my personal experience,it takes an awful lot before anything legal kicks in. (my DS school refused last year)

My SIL decided to home ed her DD, with out actually de-registering her. It was 3 years before any enquiry was made. I can't remember what it was - a finein the post, or what ever- but it seemed a scarily long time for a child to be "mising" to me.

Original poster
rollsroyce · 04/06/2008 18:23

Lynettescave, I'm a bit unsure what you mean, you say if they dont attend 75% of each term, my god thats three and half days a week, that cant be right surely

OP posts:
LynetteScavo · 04/06/2008 18:29

I probably didn't phrase it properly - I probably meant 25%.

If the child is absent more than 25%.

I have a LEA booklet somewhere, so will search it out (If I didn't throw it away in disgust) - this time last year I was desperate to see an EWO, or anyone who could help me get DS into school.

Mercy · 04/06/2008 18:30

Well, my dd had approx 30 days off in both Reception and Year 1 due to illness (and one day's unauthorised absence ) and we were never contacted by the school or anyone else.

I'm assuming the absences were not ill-health related?

I would have thought a staff member, EWO or SS would be involved rather than the police (particularly in view of the circumstances)

Original poster
rollsroyce · 04/06/2008 18:40

Thanks ladies, the child who said the police came is I would have to say "worldly"and would be sure if it was the police, its difficult for me as I know their Dad also and I dont think he knows , my friend makes contact with the kids difficult, I feel responsible to do somethink as they are my godchildren

OP posts:
Saggarmakersbottomknocker · 04/06/2008 18:53

Our EWO gets involved if absence is below 85% although that would just be monitoring rather than a visit.

You can be fined after 20 unauthorised sessions within a certain number of weeks. The police may have visited if the children were absent and no contact could be made with the parents by the school or by the EWO knocking at the property. Education authorities don't like 'missing' children for obvious reasons.

RosaLuxembourg · 04/06/2008 19:09

You really need to make your friend talk to you about this Rollsroyce. It sounds like she may be burying her head in the sand and refusing to answer letters/attend meetings. That is the only reason why the police would be involved. Did the child say why s/he thought the police had come?

Original poster
rollsroyce · 04/06/2008 20:07

thanks rosa,
your advice has been most welcome

OP posts:
cory · 04/06/2008 20:26

LynetteScavo on Wed 04-Jun-08 18:22:42
"rollsroyce, in my personal experience,it takes an awful lot before anything legal kicks in. (my DS school refused last year)

My SIL decided to home ed her DD, with out actually de-registering her. It was 3 years before any enquiry was made. I can't remember what it was - a finein the post, or what ever- but it seemed a scarily long time for a child to be "mising" to me. "

This depends on the individual LEA and the school. We had a home visit from the EWO after dd had had 33% of medical absences, with letters from supportive paediatricians etc etc.

Idobelieveinfairies · 04/06/2008 20:34

A neighbour around here kept her daughter off school a lot of the time. EWO kept calling round. The police were then seen every morning banging on the door and wouldn't leave until they saw the mother was up. Didn't go on for long...she has been a lot better with the school runs since then.

LynetteScavo · 04/06/2008 21:22

cory- It does depend on the school and LEA - and as I said I was giving my personal experience. While it must have been very anoying for you to have a visit from the ESW after absences for medical reasons - surely that is better than a child going missing from the system, and having no one check up on their education. IMO, an ESW should be able to offer spport to a family where a child is missing school for whatever the reason.

I am the only person who thinks the EWO might be able to provide support/ help? I would have love to have seen one this time last year.

cory · 05/06/2008 20:16

No, Lynette, I am perfectly sure that the EWO might have been able to provide support/help. Just shame that she didn't.

cory · 05/06/2008 20:22

Note that in an earlier post I did say what you are saying about EWOs- that a visit might not at all be a bad idea for the family concerned and that an EWO might well be able to help.

They can't all be as dim as the one we saw. I had to help her to fill in her own forms because she didn't understand them and couldn't spell the words. She offered no support or help whatsoever, but did a long talk about the importance of school attendance (when she had all the medical evidence!), and then asked intrusive questions about my housework (the house was clean and besides noone has ever suggested you can get HMS from your environment).

But as I said, I am sure there are absolutely charming and competent EWOs out there. And we would certainly have been grateful for help from one of them.

LynetteScavo · 06/06/2008 21:03

Cory - she sounds like an utter nightmare.