MAGISTRATES have threatened to jail a woman after her fourth court appearance over her daughter’s truancy.

The woman, from Maidstone, admitted failing to ensure her 13-year-old daughter regularly attended a Maidstone secondary school between May 9 and November 4 this year, when she appeared in court in Maidstone last Thursday.

The girl had been to only 70 out of 164 school sessions – an attendance rate of 43 per cent.

Meetings had been arranged between the mother and the school but she failed to go to three of them.

The mother said she had been ill on one occasion, didn’t get the message about the second and could not remember why she hadn’t gone to the third.

There had been three previous court cases regarding the girl’s poor school attendance record, dating back several years.

In the most recent one, the mother was fined £400.

In her defence, the mother said her daughter had suffered from migraines since 2001, and was receiving attention from her GP.

Presiding magistrate Peter Ludgate said: “You’re neglecting her future by failing to get her to school.

“We believe it’s so serious that we must consider passing a custodial sentence.”

The hearing was adjourned for reports until December 21.

Meanwhile, another woman, who gave up her job to try and make her daughter go to school, has been fined £100 after

her daughter continued to miss lessons.

The mother, from Maidstone, admitted failing to secure the regular attendance of her 13-year-old daughter at a Maidstone secondary school between May 26 and October 14 this year when she appeared before magistrates in Maidstone last Thursday.

The court heard that the girl had been to only 75 out of 125 sessions – an attendance record of 60 per cent.

The school had held a meeting with the mother in November last year, at which she agreed her daughter should attend school every day or provide a sick note from her GP if she was forced to be absent through illness.

There had been further meetings, warning letters and a visit by the education welfare officer. The girl was also offered support to increase her confidence.

But the girl’s attendance record – which had at one stage been as low as 45 per cent – improved only marginally.

Speaking in her own defence, the mother, who also has a son, told magistrates she had quit her job to make sure her children went to school but although she had been dropping them off a short distance away every day, her daughter had still not turned up in class.

She said her daughter had claimed others led her astray. “If that’s what it takes, I shall escort them into the classroom,” said the mother.

Magistrates ordered the mother to pay £70 costs in addition to a fine of £100.

Neither of the girls can be identified for legal reasons.