PARENTS in Bury are being made to pay the price for their children who skip school.

In a bid to cut truancy, parents of regular non-attenders will be brought before Bury magistrates and may face heavy fines.

It is the first time in several years Bury has resorted to court action in truancy cases.

Last week the mother of a Radcliffe High School pupil - who had attended school just 61 times out of a possible 106 - pleaded guilty and was fined £100, with £40 court costs.

Three other parents with children at Broad Oak High and Derby High in Bury were also summoned to appear in court. Two of the parents pleaded not guilty and a third failed to make an appearance. They will have their cases heard on April 2 and 9. Another five cases will be brought to court on Thursday.

Solicitors acting for the local authority were granted orders prohibiting any information being published which might identify the youngsters.

Bury's education welfare officer, Mr Alan Cogswell, said it was the parents' responsibility to make sure their children went to school.

"It's easy to blame the kids," he said. "But I don't think that parents can abdicate their responsibility.

"Young people have a right to access educational provision and there is a duty placed on parents to ensure that they attend school regularly."

He added that where parents failed in their responsibilities to their children, the local authority would pursue the matter with the utmost rigour. And there was a need to make the cases "as high profile as possible" in order to secure pupils' attendance in the future.

"Regular attendance at school is the route for their future success and prosperity," said Mr Cogswell.

"Young people can get into a habit of not going to school. We have got to emphasise that to the parents. If they don't enforce it early on, they will have difficulty laying down the law when the kids are 15 or 16. They need to get to grips with the problem when children are young."

Prosecutions will be brought when there is a history of truancy, or when there are young children in the family.

Bury generally has high levels of attendance, which is reflected through high GCSE and SATS results.

Mr Cogswell said: "Access to education is on the same level as access to food, warmth and fresh air. And if parents don't do their utmost to make sure their children attend school, they are denying young people their basic rights."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.