Unauthorised absence from school

[smutchin]

Most of the cases which reach magistrates' court are chronic, the child has rarely attended school over a prolonged period.

Quite. It's not the people missing a couple of days at the end of term who are ending up in prison, which is why I'm entirely unsympathetic to the righteous libertarian bleating of some middle class parents.

One could admire his principled stand, but it does illustrate the risk of using the law to make a point.

 

[KnackeredBike]

Quite. It's not the people missing a couple of days at the end of term who are ending up in prison, which is why I'm entirely unsympathetic to the righteous libertarian bleating of some middle class parents.

Most don't bleat, most just get on and do what they think is best with their kids and unsurprisingly most children end up normal rather than uneducated monsters.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

The tax payer has paid for the provision of the teaching day. If the parents take their kids away, effectively a 'no show', then it's right that they should pay a financial recompense.

 

[ufkacbln]

The tax payer has paid for the provision of the teaching day. If the parents take their kids away, effectively a 'no show', then it's right that they should pay a financial recompense.

How far to extend this?

I have a patient who doesn't show for an appointment, the cost including materials is over £1000, and for technical reasons is patient specific

Should we charge the patient the £1000?

 

[ufkacbln]

I have a friend who was a headmaster

He always used to find a local educational event during the holiday that meant that taking it at another time would not be possible

Never had a request refused

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

How far to extend this?

I have a patient who doesn't show for an appointment, the cost including materials is over £1000, and for technical reasons is patient specific

Should we charge the patient the £1000?

Yes

 

[ufkacbln]

Yes

It would raise about a billion pounds per year for the NHS!

 

[Levo-Lon]

Maybe it should be illegal to load Holliday costs.
Save a fortune on a Holliday or pay a 60quid fine...

 

[screenman]

Maybe it should be illegal to load Holliday costs.
Save a fortune on a Holliday or pay a 60quid fine...

Do they load them or do they reduce them out of hoilday time? As somebody who had three kids I knew and accepted holiday costs were going to be higher when we had them.

 

[Tin Pot]

Quite. It's not the people missing a couple of days at the end of term who are ending up in prison, which is why I'm entirely unsympathetic to the righteous libertarian bleating of some middle class parents.

Your position can be summed up as "it's okay for it to be a crime because most people won't be prosecuted and put in prison ". This is clearly nonsense. Obviously the law should criminalise *only* the behaviours that should be prosecuted.

 

[smutchin]

Your position can be summed up as "it's okay for it to be a crime because most people won't be prosecuted and put in prison ".

No, I'm saying that I think the law as it is worded and applied is reasonable.

Also, "prosecuted and put in prison" is a wilfully misleading conflation. Over 16,000 parents were prosecuted for truancy offences in 2014 but only 18 ended up in prison.