Regular school attendance is following the rules
The respondent had taken his child out of school during term time to go on holiday. The child otherwise had an excellent attendance record. The Council having failed on appeal to the Administrative Court, it appealed saying that the word ‘regularly’ did not refer only to the the times of attendance.
Held: The Council’s appeal succeeded. Against the background history of the legislation, the court considered three possible meanings of ‘regualrly’, rejecting against that background meanings other than ‘In accordance with the rules’: ‘in section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996, ‘regularly’ means ‘in accordance with the rules prescribed by the school”.
Lord Neuberger, President, Lady Hale, Deputy President, Lord Mance, Lord Reed, Lord Hughes
UKSC 2016/0155
Bailii, Bailii Summary, SC, SC Summary, SC Video Summary, SC 31 Jan 17 am, SC 31 Jan 17 pm
Education Act 1996 444(1), Elementary Education Act 1870 5, Elementary Education Act 1880 2, Education Act 1944, Education (Penalty Notices) (England) Regulations 2007
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Isle of Wight Council v Platt Admn 13-May-2016
The Council appealed by case stated against a decision by magistrates that a parent who took his child out of school to take a holiday hod not failed to ensure that the child attended regularly. The record was otherwise regular and satisfactory.
Cited – London County Council v Maher 1929
The list of permissible reasons for non attendance at school listed in the 1870 Act is non-exclusive. . .
Cited – Ex parte the School Board of London, In re Murphy 1877
Cockburn CJ said ‘an occasional omission might suffice’ to constitute the offence under the bye-laws of not securing the regular attendance of a child at school, contrasting it with the graver sanction of a school attendance order which might result . .
Cited – Marshall v Graham 1907
Parents were prosecuted for failing to send their children to school on Ascension Day. They argued that Ascension Day was a day ‘exclusively set aside for religious observance’ by the Church of England.
Held: A Church which is established is . .
Cited – Hares v Curtin 1913
. .
Cited – Bunt v Kent 1914
. .
Cited – Osborne v Martin 1927
The parent had withdrawn his child from school every week for piano lessons. The court heard an appeal by the prosecutor against dismissal of a charge of failing to secure the child’s attendance at school.
Held: The parent had to cause the . .
Cited – Bath and North East Somerset District Council v Warman Admn 19-Nov-1998
A fifteen year old girl absented herself from school when she went to live with a boyfriend at an address which was not known to her mother. The justices acquitted the mother for failing to secure her attendance at school on the basis of ‘any . .
Cited – R, Regina (on the Application of) v Leeds Magistrates Court and others Admn 28-Jun-2005
A 15-year-old girl did not go to school because she was bullied there and her mother kept her away.
Held: the mother had failed to meet her duties under the Act. . .
Cited – Hinchley v Rankin QBD 1961
A father had been rightly convicted when his son had been recorded as absent because he had not been at school when the register was closed, for ‘it must be regular attendance for the period prescribed by the person upon whom the duty to provide the . .
Not followed – Crump v Gilmore 1969
Justices had found as facts, on a prosecution for non attendance of their child, that the parents had not known about relevant absences until after the event, and that there had been no neglect on their part. The justices acquitted the parents but . .
Cited – London Borough of Bromley v C Admn 7-Mar-2006
The authority appealed an acquittal by the magistrates of the mother of three children of failing to secure their regular attendance. . Records showed that out of 114 possible attendances in each case, E had 72 attendances, G had 74 and B had 78. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Education, Crime
Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.581425