Islington News: William Tyndale | Upper Street | Paula Beatty | £50 Fine

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Islington Tribune - by PETER GRUNER
Published: 10 October 2008

Paula Beatty

LITTLE KATIE’S £50 fine FOR A LATE HOLIDAY

Six-year-old’s mother set to appeal against penalty for missing start of term

A BARNSBURY parent could be the first in the borough to refuse to pay a £50 fine imposed after her six-year-old daughter took two “unauthorised” days off school.
Paula Beatty’s daughter Katie was two days late back for the first week of the new term last month because of a last-minute – and according to her mother – much-needed holiday in the Peak District.
Katie, who attends William Tyndale in Upper Street, had only had two days off school for illness for the entire year, and half a day for the dentist.
So it came as a shock to Mrs Beatty, from Collier Street, to receive a £50 fine from the school for her child’s absence.
This week the mother-of-three, who works in adult education and whose husband Lloyd runs the Guildhall bookshop in the City, was considering whether to refuse to pay the fine and make her case in court.
She believes responsible parents are now being unfairly penalised because of Islington’s appalling record on school absenteeism.
As the Tribune reported last week, the government has stepped in to monitor the borough after it was revealed that more than 30 primary schools exceed the national target for absenteeism.
Although figures are not available for past year, the council has revealed that 64 parents were fined up to £100 each in 2006-07 because their children took time off school.
Mrs Beatty, who also works part-time for a teacher training charity, the King’s Cross-based Nurture Group, said: “I could have lied and said Katie was ill. That way I suppose nothing would have happened.
“But I told the truth and said that we took this last-minute break in the Peak District, which included the extra two days.
“My problem was that I had to fit my holidays in with our childminder. She suddenly announced she was going to Greece, so I decided that’s when we would take our holiday.”
The penalty was issued by Islington’s privatised school organisation CEA.
Liberal Democrat executive member for schools Ursula Woolley said headteachers in the borough had discussed ways of toughening up rules on absenteeism.
“They obviously felt that the borough record could be improved, with some heads being more lenient than others. The point is that no parent should be penalised if there are special circumstances. Headteachers will normally be sympathetic if parents first discuss a planned absence with them.”

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