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Compulsory Education
Children over the age of five and under the age of 16 are of compulsory education age and they must receive full time education. Parents are required to ensure that a child receives efficient full-time education suitable to his or her age, ability and aptitude and to ensure that any special educational needs are met by attendance at school or otherwise. Parents may educate children at home or engage a private tutor, but the Local Education Authority (LEA) must be satisfied that the education is of a sufficiently high standard. If the LEA are concerned that a child is not receiving a suitable education other than at school they may serve formal notice on the parents requiring them to satisfy the LEA otherwise. Where the parents fail to do so, the LEA can serve a School Attendance Order (SAO) requiring the parents to register the child at a named school. Parents must be given notice of the LEA’s intention to serve this order and the named school must not be one from which the child has been excluded.
The SAO lasts while the child is of compulsory school age unless it is repealed by a court order. Where a parent fails to comply with the SAO s/he can be prosecuted before a Magistrates’ Court and can be fined up to £1000. Where a parent knows that a child is not attending school and fails to take steps to make the child attend, the parent can be fined up to £2500 or imprisoned for not more than three months. A court which has convicted a parent for a failure to comply with a SAO can direct the LEA to apply for an Education Supervision Order. The LEA does not have to do this but it must tell the court why it has chosen not to make an application.
The purpose of an Education Supervision Order is to guide parents and children to ensure that the children receive a satisfactory education. The Department of Health has issued guidance on the use of Education Supervision Orders which last for up to one year initially, but may be extended for up to three years at a time. They cannot last beyond the point at which the child is no longer of compulsory school age.
