Nice little earner

Almost missed this in last week’s Children Now:

The number of parents fined because their children play truant has more than doubled in a year, while levels of truancy have stayed the same, the latest Government figures reveal.

Nearly 5,000 penalty notices were issued to parents between 22 April 2006 and 1 September 2006…But figures released last week by the Department for Education and Skills show that unauthorised absences remained stubbornly at 0.78 per cent of half days missed last academic year – exactly the same level as the previous year.

Meanwhile, Carlotta has an interesting account of school refusal.