Advice re threat of prosecution by Education Department for school refusal

Hi Marion,

I think it is really hard to predict whether, if you deregister your daughter, your LA will decide that it is not useful to prosecute you for her past nonattendance - or on the other hand if they will come down on you even harder. You would at least have the advantage that you wouldn't be racking up any additional offences once she has been deregistered.

Some Local Authorities seem to have the idea that parents who home educate because their children won't go to school are somehow less capable than those who chose the home ed path for other reasons. This prejudice causes them to lean harder on such parents in an effort to get the children back to school. However, aside from a truancy prosecution for past offences, there is very little they could do to you once she is home educated. It would be extremely difficult for them to get the courts to force you to enrol your daughter in school again. There is a lot of bluff from LAs, but the law is very much on the side of parents in this.

You might get in contact with home educating families nearby in order to ask whether any of them have been in your shoes. That might tell you which way your LA is likely to jump with respect to prosecuting you. If you want any help making contact, I'd be glad to help you if you want to let me know whereabouts you live.

Hi Sara,

Thanks so much for responding to my post.

I live in Islington and have tried to find someone that has experienced similar situation. So if you can help that would be much appreciated.

My daughter had a message sent to her by the bully on facebook just yesterday, despite being told the school had dealt with it.

I'm very reluctant to send her back to that school to wait for another. I dont fancy a fine of £2.5k for this, I think its utterly ridiculous that they fine parents, especially those that have cooperated and tried all avenues to assist their child back to school.

Thanks again

Marion

Hi Marion,

I posted on one of the national home ed lists to see whether anyone in Islington had any ideas about what would be likely to happen in your case. No one local popped up but there are some people who have a lot of experience with school refusal who had some general thoughts.

Often LAs do drop prosecutions after the child has been deregistered from school because it's clear that the child is now being educated and there would be little purpose in prosecuting. They do tend to keep a sharp eye on the newly home educating family as they are suspicious that the education won't be up to scratch. However, in home education the law recognises a wide variety of approaches to learning and so long as you don't ignore their correspondence you shouldn't have any problem on that score. It's wise to be in touch with a home ed organisation (national or local) so you are aware of the law (it's straightforward) and you won't be taken in by LA officials if they are heavy-handed. Sometimes they are. However, these would be different people to the ones who have been handling the truancy issue so they may be quite reasonable and fair.

But you can never be sure. Sometimes LAs will prosecute regardless. I guess they do this in order to make an example of you so other parents won't think they can "get away with" not sending their children to school.

It's impossible to know for sure what they'll do.

Your daughter may be in such a state of anxiety that she can't bring herself to go in to school at all in spite of the threatened prosecution. If you think this is the case then it's best to deregister her before the LA deadline so you can at least say to them, "Look, I've met your deadline, I've taken decisive action, my daughter is no longer truanting and is now receiving an education."

On the other hand if you think she would manage to go into school then perhaps she should go for a week or two if possible, just to show willing and get them to back down over the prosecution. If you haven't got a new school place sorted by then and she is still very unhappy then deregister her.

Without the support of your GP or CAMHS to say your dd is unfit to attend school, you would be hard pressed to defend yourself against a truancy prosecution. Proof of the bullying *might* be helpful so get hold of that if you can - have you got any paperwork relating to it, can you get hold of your daughter's school records etc? And get a screenshot of the recent Facebook message from the bully. However, the court could well decide that even though she's been bullied, the health professionals are saying it isn't having such a terrible effect on her and that she is just using it as an excuse not to go to school.

Sorry not to have more definite information! Hope you and your daughter can figure out the best way to go from here.

Hello Marion

This sounds like a very stressful situation indeed
Sara has left you some very good advice and support in her replies to you and I wanted to let you know that I have asked my colleague from ACE to come along and leave you some advice too as that may be helpful.

You can read about ACE and the kind of work they do here: The Advisory Centre for Education (ACE) Ltd | Attendance | School Attendance and Absence

Do keep an eye on your thread for their reply as we all work part time, it may take a day or so

Take care
Linda

Dear Marion

This is Lesley, a parent supporter from ACE

A lot of what I could say has been excellently covered already by Sara- here are a few additional thoughts.

prosecution is over what has happened in the past i.e. your daughter's failure to attend over a specified period

The LA could decide to prosecute whatever you do, but it sounds as if they are using this as a threat to get her back into school.
What I can't say is whether they are more concerned about attendance statistics or about your daughter's missing education. If it's the stats then they may well not proceed if you home educate as that would get her  out of their system. However as others have said you cannot be sure. Have you considered asking education welfare what the position would be?

There are two different sections of the 1996 act under which you can be prosecuted. These differ according according to how far you can mount a defence and the maximum penalty. All this is set out in full detail in ACE's booklet on school attendance. The Advisory Centre for Education (ACE) Ltd | Attendance | School Attendance and Absence
Remember that the fines given are a maximum. Your means and circs will be taken into account. In some cases this may be a minimal fine or a conditional discharge. if you are prosecuted it is important to get legal advice. As you are in Islington, Islington Law Centre 020 7607 2461 may be able to help.

Looking to the future. if your daughter would attend if she moved school, make sure you get your application in as soon as you can. Remember that you can apply even if a school is full on paper as you have a right to appeal. If a school has places they cannot refuse to take your daughter.

You say you have had input from CAHMS. If they have worked with your daughter it  is worth getting a report from them if you can. This might show that your daughter was not well enough to attend school because of her mental state or at least provide evidence for an admission appeal on the effect of the bullying.
I would also recommend asking the school in writing for a copy of her full school record. That should have records of any bullying incidents and any action the school has taken.

I do think it is really important now to show that you are taking steps to ensure your daughter is educated, whether that is at home or in a different school.

All the best whichever route you go down

Lesley (ACE)

Thank you so much for your replies.

My daughter didnt attend on the 12th.  I had a feeling she would not be able to go through with it.

I handed in deregistration letter on the day, as I thought it best thing to do.  To date, I have not received any response, but it has been less than a week.

I have also put application in to my local authority for a school place and have listed two preferences, both outside the borough.

In the meantime, I'm looking into things we can do at home. We have local library very close by and access to internet at home.  I've purchased a number of KS3 books for English, maths and science, and have looked into perhaps someone coming in for an hour or two to help with maths (not one of my strong points).  My daughter really enjoys writing and reading, which she has been continuing with whilst being out of school.

Should I be logging what she does each day?

I will keep you all updated on situation.

Thanks once again.

Marion

Hello, I'm in the same situation, I know the post was in 2012. My daughter is 13 and have a similar problem, I try everything to get her in and sometimes it works and other times not but the education authority are only interested in the target and not underlying problems our young ones face. I have been through CHAMS social services, doctor, hospital but it doesn't stop prosecution.
I hope you have managed to solve things or have advice.
Thanks if you do

Hi, just thought I'd chip in! I'm an Education Welfare Officer and in the LA I work in, we would never prosecute when there are unresolved issues.  I liaise with CAMHS to clarify what their plans are for particular students and whether they are currently able to attend mainstream school.  If there were allegations of bullying, I would liaise with the school to ensure these are addressed and resolved as quickly as possible.  It is always a last resort to prosecute parents in relation to non-attendance at school and there are absolutely no targets to meet.  It would only progress to this level if there was no evidence to suggest a student cannot attend school on a regular basis.  It would be a waste of time and money to prosecute if there were sufficient mitigating circumstances - the case would be rejected by the magistrates.  As the job title suggests my main focus is the welfare of the child and that is for them to receive an education, wherever that may be.  If a case did proceed to prosecution, the fact that a parent has engaged and followed all advice is also presented by the LA in mitigation.

My 15 year old pretended to go to school every day but went home after we went out. She destroyed all letters from the school, now we have just got a letter to go to court under section 444, on the 29th of May, we just picked up the notification at the post office because there was no stamp on the letter otherwise we would not have known.