A Basildon couple with a 14-year old son and a 13-year old daughter were fined just £25 with £5 costs each for failing to ensure both attended Laindon's James Hornsby School.

The boy had missed 50 out of 156 days' schooling and the daughter 101 of 156 days, since the Essex Education Welfare department began following the cases, Basildon Magistrates' Court heard.

The father, who pleaded guilty to not sending his children to school said: "My son has been bullied. He was put through a window and rushed to hospital to have stitches in his ear."

He also claimed his son had been beaten up by a gang of ten youths from the school while he was walking home.

As a result, he was now afraid to attend school.

Of his daughter he said: "What more can I do? I've tried my best - I don't know why she's gone like this."

During the same session, a Basildon woman was fined £25 with £10 costs after admitting she failed to send her four sons to school.

Her eldest son, who is 14 and registered at Billericay School, attended just 76 times out of 178 days.

Her three younger sons- all pupils at Noak Bridge Primary School had failed to attend for an average of 55 days, each over the same period.

She said: "My children are all in school now. Part of the problem was with head lice. I'm like any other parent - I couldn't care less about the lice. I just sent them to school."

She had already been fined £100 with £50 costs for the same offence in September last year. Two more parents admitted failing to send their child to school.

Their daughter and had turned up at James Hornsby school just eight times in a possible 156 days.

Even when she did attend, she often arrived as late as 11.30am.

She was due to leave at 1pm, as she was already on a restricted timetable as a measure to try and encourage her back to school.

Her father, said: "She did not want to go. We rang the school and let them know every time she wasn't going to be there."

Her parents, were find £25 each with £10 costs. One parent didn't even bother turning up to court.

She had written to the court, explaining she had a family holiday booked on the date of the court appearance.

This was also during term-time despite the fact her 15-year-old daughter had already missed 129 days out of 156.

The case was dealt with in her absence - with a fine of £40 and £40 costs.

Another parent, whose child had not attended James Hornsby school for two years, despite having been put on a special programme to encourage attendance.

The deal included his father taking him to school every day, a restricted timetable and incentives to attend.

The boy's father was fined £60 with £50 costs.

In each case, the parents have not been named for legal reasons. Truancy fines attacked

Magistrates are letting down children by failing to punish the parents of persistent truants, according to an education boss.

Sandra Fletcher, Essex's schools attendance development officer, attacked the bench at Basildon Magistrates Court following a string of court cases in which 11 parents were fined a total of just £355 plus costs for failing to send their children to school.

The average fine was just £25 a parent - usually to be paid at £2 or £2.50 a week.

She said: "We are failing these kids. A child's education, which is a passport to life chances, is worth more than a packet of cigarettes a week."

"We are trying to create a culture of zero tolerance to non-attendance and this doesn't help.

"Basildon is an Education Action Zone and is receiving extra resources to deal with problems like truancy, but we are not getting support for our cause.

"The Government has been giving us guidance to try to use the courts, and when we do, this is what happens.

"No wonder teachers get disenchanted, who can blame them."

"It's not about punishing the parents, it's about enforcing every child's right to education."

Education Welfare officer Sarah Scrase backed up this view, saying: "This is months of work down the drain. When I tell parents that they can be fined up to £1,000 for failing to send their children to school it often gets a positive response. Some then make a real effort to get their child to attend. If they see that this is all they are going to be fined all the good work is undone."

She explained that while some parents blame bullying for their children's failure to attend, the only place that bullying can be dealt with is in the school.

Roger Crisp, who was chairman of the bench at the court, and is also the vice chairman of Southend Council's education committee said it would be wrong to comment on specific cases.

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