A WOMAN has been jailed for eight weeks for repeatedly failing to make sure her child attended school.
The 41 year-old mother, from Banbury, was sentenced at the town's Magistrates's Court on Thursday (July 17).
The prosecution was brought by Oxfordshire County Council in its role as the local education authority.
This is the fourth time a pare
nt has been jailed in such circumstances as a result of legal proceedings brought by the county council.
The council was the first in the country to lead a prosecution that resulted in a parent having to serve a jail term. Patricia Amos of Banbury was jailed in 2002.
Banbury Magistrates showed leniency reducing the sentence from twelve weeks to eight because the parent involved entered a guilty plea.
The mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had previous convictions for the same offence.
Barry Armstrong, Oxfordshire County Council's manager for attendance, welfare and safeguarding, said: "It is always regrettable that a parent should be separated from their child. This only happens in the most extreme cases.
"The county council takes the issue of non-attendance extremely seriously. We want to improve educational standards in Oxfordshire and to do that we must ensure that pupils are in the classroom.
"Overall, Oxfordshire has a good track record when it comes to school attendance. Our teams work in partnership with schools to support and address issues affecting attendance.
"Where we meet resistance or a complete lack of co-operation from parent, we will resort to the use of the legal powers at our disposal.
"In this particular case the parent knowingly condoned her child's non-attendance, failed to co-operate with us or take up support offered and her child had simply not attended school."
Councillor Michael Waine, Oxfordshire County Council's Cabinet Member for Schools Improvement, added: "Once again this proves that we will not put up with parents who blatantly allow their children to stay away from school.
"We have a very robust track record in this area and that will continue. The vast majority of people I speak to welcome our approach.
"Only those who seek to keep their children from being educated have anything to fear from our stance."
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