The parent had withdrawn his child from school every week for piano lessons.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 child to attend school at all times when required to do so by the bye-laws.
Lord Hewart CJ said: ‘It was never intended that a child attending the school might be withdrawn for this or that hour to attend a lesson thought by the parent to be more useful or possibly in the long run more remunerative. The time-table and discipline of a school could be reduced to chaos if that were permissible.’
Salter J pointed out that parents were not obliged to take advantage of the free education provided by the state, but if they did, they had to take it as a whole.
Judges:
Lord Hewart CJ, Salter J
Citations:
(1927) 91 JP 197
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Isle of Wight Council v Platt SC 6-Apr-2017
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’ . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Education
Updated: 04 May 2022; Ref: scu.581442