Court proceedings for school absence

[Targeted101]

Please bare with me, this is a long one!

My children's school instructed the Local Authority to issue me with a Fixed Penalty Notice in July of this year following an unauthorised absence.

For context, the absence was due to the children's dad taking them on a holiday for 5 days during term time. Dad and I are divorced, and have a very strained relationship. There have been previous Court Orders in place due to DV (perpetrated by him) and whilst he does maintain a good relationship with his children, our relationship is very dysfunctional.

Notably, there is no Prohibited Steps Order in place, so I have no legal power to stop him taking them out of the country (we have equal PR).

The school wrote to me informing me I was to be fined for this unauthorised absence and to expect a FPN from the Local Authority, which then arrived.

I contacted the Headteacher (who knows the extensive complex history and personal circumstances between dad and I) and confirmed that I had no part in this holiday - I didn't book it, pay for it, go on it or even consent to it! But ultimately, my lack of consent is a civil matter, not a legal matter.

She responded to say she would not be withdrawing the FPN as it sits with the Local Authority.

I then contacted the Local Authority, outlined the above, and was informed that FPNs are issued against 5 criteria and cannot be withdrawn, though they did advise me to go back to the Headteacher as criterion 3 states that FPNs are at the discretion of the Headteacher and are based on individual circumstances ie they can't cancel it, but the Headteacher can so to ask again.

I contacted the Headteacher again, and was contacted on the last day of term at 3.30pm to confirm she would not be cancelling the fine. Reasons given were largely she is following Local Authority policy & both parents are responsible for ensuring their children attend school. Again, I contested that 2 separated parents can be re-banded together as one party when our marriage and financial ties have been legally dissolved!

Fast forward, after raising this issue with my local MP, as well as the board of governors after unanswered emails from the school, the unpaid FPNs have now resulted in Court proceedings against me.

I have received a section 444(1) and I'm charged with failing to ensure my child attends school regularly (2 charges of this for 2 children).

The prosection case has been shared with me, and is full on material errors, including my name being spelt incorrectly in all FPNs, and incorrect recording of absences.

This 5 day period of absence was the first unauthorised absence they've ever had (year 5 and 6) since being at the school, but the attached Attendance Certificate has recorded another absence as unauthorised prior to this.

I've contacted the school again and asked for the incorrect data to be rectified (a 3 day sickness absence just before half term was recorded as unauthorised when it shouldn't have been. I followed the school policy and kept them off school for 48 hours following sickness & diarrhoea).

I've been told that they will not update thir record as, and I quote, my "ex husband told them we were on holiday" - they had called him during the half term week when we were actually away.

When I challenged this, I was then told "another pupil also said you were going on holiday". Again, we were, but not until the weekend and all days of the holiday were during the half term.

I have provided the school with confirmation of my holiday and I'm yet to hear back from them.

I intend to plead Not Guilty and include in my statement that I'm not the person the FPNs have been addressed to, and there are errors in the Attendance Cerificate which form part of their prosection.

I also have to highlight as this charge is a "strict liability" charge, there are only 5 accepted defences in Court. Only 1 of them potentially applies to me "unavoidable cause" i.e. I couldn't take them to school as they'd already left the country.

My question really is has anyone else experienced such extensive measures to prosecute a parent? I feel my individual circumstances are being totally ignored, that they're looking simply to prosecute and not support me, and of course this pending Court trial is causing significant distress.

My work means I travel abroad frequently, and therefore cannot have a criminal record.

The easy option would be to suck it up and just pay the fine, but I really don't see why I should have to when I had absolutely nothing to do with this absence!

It's also gone beyond that stage now as pleading guilty would mean I'm sentenced.

I'm concerned of this happening again in the future. If he decides to take them out of school again, and as I have no legal power to stop him, I potentially face all of this again.

Thanks in advance for reading, and please advise if you've experienced similar!

Thats good. Honestly though, it should not have needed you getting 3 attendance fines in quick succession to realise this.

The magistrate will ask school for an attendance update at the court date. Make sure your child has high (above 95%) attendance. You're going to have to maintain this for 3 years too, because any further times when unauthorised absences go above 5 days in 10 weeks could see you back in front of a magistrate, now you've above two penalty notices.

the school never reported concerns of my child’s attendance whilst she was in primary school. She’s now transitioned to high school and there are no concerns around her Attendance. I’ve never had any interventions or meetings from her primary school. Would the judge consider this. What could be the outcome in court?

I just realised both your fines were before the new regulations started (which was August 2024).

If both periods of absence were considered unauthorised holiday leave, then school don't need to evidence any meetings or interventions with you. Just that they have told you they don't authorise holidays and you risk a fine if you take your child out if school without authorisation. As long as they can evidence that, that's all that is needed to prosecute.

The decision to authorise on the basis of exceptional circumstances is a decision given to the Headteacher. It's not really the magistrate's role to overturn a decision that the Headteacher makes in good faith.
*Didn't you give the school information of your exceptional circumstances at the time of thr absence? If not, this will go against you.

• If you did, did you tell school at the earliest possible opportunity and follow correct process to request exceptional circumstances from the Headteacher? If not, that will ho against you
• If you provided school the reasons and did this as early as possible, it will be down to the magistrate to decide if the Headteacher should have authorised the absence, or not. Head's are under no obligation to authorise so there is no automatic reason to overturn the decision. Depends on the opinion of thr magistrate though.

Speaking as an attendance lead, if the school were at the point of questioning if they should have authorised, they would likely have requested the LA didn't progress to court. It costs the LA money to take cases to court so they don't do that unless they are fairly sure they'll win.

The magistrate will ultimately decide. Personally for my LA, I think the outcome in court is to determine how much of the "up to £2500 fine" is issued. I think the fine unlikely to be overturned once it's gone to court. It just wouldn't go to court if there was any doubt, local authorities dont have the spare cash to take cases to court that they may loose. But it's reasonable I could stand corrected. If you provide plenty of mitigation then the fine may be significantly less. I doubt it will be overturned tho.

Because it was an emergency I emailed the school.
I hear what you’re saying, I think under section 444 (1) fine is £1000. Would that also mean it will be a criminal record. I guess I will have to explain all the information and hope the judges understands the mitigation and the outcome is not severe.

When dud you email the information to school?

I was just reading this though. So you went on hols 24th June and didn't come back until August. Child missed a month of school, having already missed over a week due to holiday in December of the same school year.

24th June was term time.

The fact that the child's grandparents was ill/dying would not be a reason I would authorise leave. I may be persuaded, if this was from a family with near 100% attendance, over several years. But you'd already taken a term time holiday. You'd be expected to make alternative arrangements so your child could go to school if you needed to ho to your home county for your parents health needs.

If/Once grandparent dies, I would consider authorised leave for a funeral, but not more than 3 days (2 days travelling, 1 day funeral). Children aren't authorised lengthy leave from school because extended family overseas are ill - this is not reasonable grounds imo.

You being in cancer remission, while I do appreciate your need for empathy, does not give you a free pass to take your child out of school whenever you like. its irrelevant here.

You having a stroke while overseas and that delaying your return, that is delicate. You were overseas for more than 6 weeks. When was the stroke? (Sorry to be blunt). If you were planning on bring back and the child being at school within a week, then this may be exceptional circumstances. But if your stroke was a week or more after 24th June then its irrelevant - the fine will be issued for the first 5 days your child had unauthorised absence.

If your stroke was within days of you arriving, you need decent evidence. Can you evidence return flights booked that would have had her back at school before 4 days passed? Can you evidence medical intervention for your stroke before then? Can you evidence your inability to flying? Can you evidence booking a flight for the earliest possible date? Can you evidence clear communication with school showing your efforts to get the child back in school as soon as possible?

If you can't evidence plans for your child to be back at school within 4 days (it might have been a shorter time frame gor your local authority) then your stroke is irrelevant to the fine. Your cancer remission and your parent's illness are also irrelevant. All this narrative would strike me as excuses rather than reasons - professionals are likely see it as you not prioritising your child attendance by providing these excuses, rather than accepting and acknowledging a lesson learned. So would likely make the school and LA more likely to prosecute.

This really shows how fucked up the system is.

The fact that the child's grandparents was ill/dying would not be a reason I would authorise leave. I may be persuaded, if this was from a family with near 100% attendance, over several years. This is blatant unfairness. The power should not rest with HT's because it's just their personal whim.

I can't see how is it in the public interest or that child's interests to criminalise the parent in this situation.

I miss the old days when schools tried to support.

Schools have to support. Its part of the requirements. What they also have to do, is have high expectations for attendance.

I can't see how is it in the public interest or that child's interests to criminalise the parent in this situation.

Because lots (lots, not thr occasionally few, lots) of parents lie and take the piss. If we allow authorised absence because extended family, who live overseas, are ill, where is the line drawn?

• Is it OK for child to miss 6 months of school because Great Aunt is ill (lets say non-terminal cancer)?
• What about 18 months because Great Aunt has non-terminal cancer?
• What about 6 months off school because Great Aunt has terminal cancer?
• 6 weeks for Great Aunt who child doesn't really know?
• a month off school for grandma who lives in Bulgaria and child gas seem only twice in her life?

Do you see how difficult it us to draw a line? The point is, schools are expected to support families at the same time as having high attendance expectations.

So a family who, ordinarily, always prioritise high attendance at school and always gave, request a leave of absence in a way that it's clear they are avoiding missing school as much as possible. These will be viewed more favourable than a family with low attendance, multiple unauthorised absences and requests for absence that do not show parents prioritising attendance at school.

These will be viewed more favourable This is the issue - it's a fundamentally unjust system. If the head likes you, you get favourable treatment.

Naw. It's if the request is justifiably reasonable.

Country to your opinion, Headteachers are generally very professionally balanced in their opinions. They are able to scan though all they grey areas to make a balanced opinion.

Im worried about the conviction affecting my employment

If you plead guilty you will definitely get a criminal conviction. Mitigation can reduce the sentence, but it can't take away the conviction. If you have a case to plead not guilty, you may not get a conviction at all.

Personally for my LA, I think the outcome in court is to determine how much of the "up to £2500 fine" is issued

This is wrong. The courts never work like that for any offence. The courts never accept someone else's determination of guilt. For OP to be fined the LA has to prove that an offence has been committed. As she is being prosecuted under section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996, she may be able to argue that her child was prevented from attending by an unavoidable cause. The dates involved may prevent her from arguing this if her child was always going to have some unauthorised absence due to seeing her grandmother, but that isn't clear. OP needs to see a lawyer.