444 Offence: failure to secure regular attendance at school of registered pupil.E+W
(1)If a child of compulsory school age who is a registered pupil at a school fails to attend regularly at the school, his parent is guilty of an offence.
(2)Subsections (3) to (6) below apply in proceedings for an offence under this section in respect of a child who is not a boarder at the school at which he is a registered pupil.
(3)The child shall not be taken to have failed to attend regularly at the school by reason of his absence from the school—
(a)with leave,
(b)at any time when he was prevented from attending by reason of sickness or any unavoidable cause, or
(c)on any day exclusively set apart for religious observance by the religious body to which his parent belongs.
(4)The child shall not be taken to have failed to attend regularly at the school if the parent proves—
(a)that the school at which the child is a registered pupil is not within walking distance of the child’s home, and
(b)that no suitable arrangements have been made by the local education authority F1. . . for any of the following—
(i)his transport to and from the school,
(ii)boarding accommodation for him at or near the school, or
(iii)enabling him to become a registered pupil at a school nearer to his home.
(5)In subsection (4) “walking distance”—
(a)in relation to a child who is under the age of eight, means 3.218688 kilometres (two miles), and
(b)in relation to a child who has attained the age of eight, means 4.828032 kilometres (three miles),
in each case measured by the nearest available route.
(6)If it is proved that the child has no fixed abode, subsection (4) shall not apply, but the parent shall be acquitted if he proves—
(a)that he is engaged in a trade or business of such a nature as to require him to travel from place to place,
(b)that the child has attended at a school as a registered pupil as regularly as the nature of that trade or business permits, and
(c)if the child has attained the age of six, that he has made at least 200 attendances during the period of 12 months ending with the date on which the proceedings were instituted.
(7)In proceedings for an offence under this section in respect of a child who is a boarder at the school at which he is a registered pupil, the child shall be taken to have failed to attend regularly at the school if he is absent from it without leave during any part of the school term at a time when he was not prevented from being present by reason of sickness or any unavoidable cause.
(8)A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.
(9)In this section “leave”, in relation to a school, means leave granted by any person authorised to do so by the governing body or proprietor of the school.
Textual Amendments
F1Words in S. 444(4)(b) repealed (1.9.1999) by 1998 c. 31, s. 140(1)(3), Sch. 30 para. 117, Sch.31 (with ss. 138(9), 144(6)); S.I. 1999/2323, art. 2(1), Sch. 1.