Over 100 Sheffield parents fined £220 over their children not attending school

Over 100 Sheffield parents or guardians were handed fines for failing to ensure their children attend school.

Scores of households have been ordered to pay an average of £375 by Sheffield Magistrates' Court because their children were not in class when they were meant to be.

In fact, combing through the 117 convictions listed by the court between January 3 - 5, 2024, shows the vast majority were for failing to ensure their children attended school for some time during June and July 2023, and often for periods of 11 days.

It suggests the fines were over parents removing their children early from school to go on summer holidays, but there is nothing to confirm this.

The second most common statistic was missing four to five days of school at the beginning of September, suggesting parents struggled or failed to make sure their children were back in class for the new school year.

On average, the courts dealt out fines of £220 with costs and surcharges adding up to an extra £163.

The Star has chosen not to publish the named of the 117 parents that were given fines.

However, the data does show which schools had the most parents fined for their children missing class.

Fir Vale School saw 20 of its parents fined, followed by Outwood Academy City, with 13 receiving a bill; and Westfield School had eight.

The schools where the most parents were fined:

• Five Vale School - 20 parents
• Outwood Academy City - 13 parents
• Westfield School - Eight parents
• Ecclesfield School - Six parents
• Meynell Primary School - Five parents

When asked about the high number of fines, headteacher of Fir Vale School Rachel Smith said: "Nationally, attendance has been a challenge since the pandemic.

"Good attendance is vital to academic success. All our students who meet their targets get fantastic rewards; ranging from pizza party treat, ice skating tickets and an Alton Towers trip. We work hard with our families to support them and reward their children. Unauthorised absences can, unfortunately, lead to fines. This combination of support and challenge is working."

School attendance has historically been described as a "serious issue" in Sheffield. Prior to 2022, the Steel City ranked 144 out of 151 local authorities for primary-age children not being in school.

It led to many of the city's organisations signing a "School Attendance Charter" to drive down figures.

In September 2023, a report to the city council's education, children and families policies committee found the city moved to rank 131 out of those 151 local authorities.

Speaking at the time, Tim Armstrong, council head of access and inclusion, said that the issue was not kids "wagging it" – playing truant – and lying to their parents about going. "That’s not the situation we face as a nation and city in terms of school attendance.

"The situation is that there are many and varied reason for children not going to school and part of our ‘Belonging’ framework is to say we want our children to like to want to go to school."

Nationally there is a conversation on attendance records plummeting post-Covid, with Schools Week reporting 22.3 per cent of pupils missed more than one in 10 sessions in the 2022-23 academic.

A think tank called Centre for Social Justice is calling for a review into the effectiveness of pupil absence fines and to enrich the school experience with five hours per week of extracurricular activity.

There are also widespread struggles for children with unsupported and undiagnosed SEND having a poor school experience, which may lead to perceived failures in attendance.