York parents fined £1800 following prolonged unauthorised school absences

Three York parents have been handed court fines this month after City of York Council took action following their children’s poor attendance at school.

The prosecution was heard by York Magistrates and followed numerous attempts by the authority and schools to engage the parents to give the children the education to which they are entitled.

In all cases, the parents had failed to provide the schools with acceptable reasons for much of their children’s absence and the schools had therefore marked the absence as unauthorised.

The prosecuted parents had, prior to court, failed to engage with the schools and local authority to support their children’s attendance and had also been issued with a fine as an alternative to prosecution. They had not paid it, prompting the council to prosecute.

All three parents were ordered to pay fines ranging between £131 to £660.

Maxine Squire, Assistant Director of Education and Skills at City of York Council, said: “We want all children to receive a great education and benefit from the rich opportunities and high quality of education that are provided by our schools, and working with families and schools to promote and maintain good attendance is vital in achieving this.

“We will always attempt to engage with parents to avoid further loss of a child’s education before we prosecute. This is used as last resort in order to ensure that children receive the education to which they are entitled.”

Residents encouraged to nominate exceptional young people of York for Shine awards

City of York Council is seeking nominations for incredible young people and inspirational adults ahead of the Lord Mayor of York’s Shine Awards.

The annual awards will be held on 11 February 2020 at Vale of York Academy and will celebrate exceptional young people of all ages, from age five to aged 18.

The Shine Awards honour those who have helped others or contributed to their community or school in a positive way, whether as a volunteer or as an inspiration to others.

Nominations categories include arts, sport, voice and participation, young volunteer and community champion, with potential new categories created, depending on the submissions.

Nominees are also being taken for the Ann Mckeown Award for Excellence and Inspirational Work with children and young people, for adults aged over 18. In memory of Ann McKeown, former York Head Teacher and supporter of the Lord Mayor’s Shine Awards.

Adults submitted for the award may include inspirational teachers, youth workers or volunteers who have gone above and beyond to improve the lives of children and young people.

To receive or submit application forms, please email tim.waudby@york.gov.uk by Friday 20 December 2019. Nominations can also be made through staff or professionals that hold contact details of the young person.

The Rt Hon the Lord Mayor of York, Cllr Janet Looker said: “York’s community is incredibly charitable and inspiring, and I look forward to honouring the young people who have made a real difference to others and the city.

“I would like to encourage residents to nominate someone they know who has had a positive impact on the community, and deserves to be recognised and thanked for their contribution.”

What’s on in York: Yorkshire cricket returns to City next August

YORK’S CLIFTON PARK WILL STAGE TWO FIRST CLASS MATCHES IN JUST 72 HOURS, AGAINST NORTHAMPTONSHIRE (ON TUESDAY AUG 4th) AND SURREY (THURSDAY AUG 6th)

After First-Class cricket returned to the City of York in 2019, the first time since a Championship match at Wigginton Road in 1890 when Yorkshire beat Kent, Clifton Park is also scheduled to host two List A matches within the space of 72 hours. Northamptonshire and Surrey are the visitors in a revamped competition that is no longer regionalised. This forms part of a three-year agreement which promised List A cricket to the City for 2020 and 2021.

“York did really well last year!” said the Club’s CEO Mark Arthur. “We enjoyed it and the spectators enjoyed it too. We had a lovely letter from Warwickshire County Cricket Club to say how well organised they thought the whole match was. They were very, very complimentary to York, indeed. This year we have been working with the ECB to try and concentrate four games of cricket within a 12-day period. So there will be two 50-over matches, early in that period, and later on there will be two women’s Hundred matches.

“The important thing about having four days of cricket at York, four days of single cricket, is that we can build an infrastructure similar to the one that was in place for the Championship matches. Therefore, it makes sure that we can spread the overheads much wider than if you just had a one off game. You simply wouldn’t be able to build a temporary stand similar to the one we had for the game there last year.”

Yesterday it was announced that the Shipton Road ground will stage a Rock Festival in June.

Click here to visit the Yorkshire Cricket Club web site

What’s on in York: “Finding the Words” with Mark Connors, Gill Lambert & Kathleen Strafford

York Explore

Thursday November 28

6:45 pm – 7:45 pm 

£5

Book tickets »

Image of poets Mark Connors, Gill Lambert and Kathleen Strafford

Mark Connors is an award winning poet and novelist from Leeds, UK. He’s had over 160 poems published in magazines, anthologies and webzines.Mark’s debut poetry pamphlet, ‘Life is a Long Song’ was published by OWF Press in 2015.  His first full length collection, ‘Nothing is Meant to be Broken’ was published by Stairwell Books in 2017. His second poetry collection, ‘Optics’, was published in 2019 by Yaffle. A joint collection, Reel Bradford, written with fellow writers behind poetry publishers, Yaffle, in partnership with Bradford City of Film, was also published in 2019. Mark is a managing editor at Yaffle. He is also a Bibliotherapist and Writing Workshop Facilitator for both poetry and fiction, and he co-runs the poetry open mic nights Word Club (Leeds) and Shaken in Sheeptown (Skipton), with his partner, Gill Lambert.

Gill Lambert is a poet and teacher from Yorkshire.  She has been published widely in print and online. With her partner Mark Connors she runs the poetry nights Shaken in Sheep Town and Word Club. Her pamphlet ‘Uninvited Guests’ was published in 2017 by Indigo Dreams and her debut collection ‘Tadaima’ was published by Yaffle this year.

Kathleen Strafford is a widely published poet, in journals, webzines and anthologies.  Her first poetry collection ‘Her Own Language’ was published by Dempsey & Windle in 2018. Kathleen’s new collection ‘Wilderness of Skin’ is published by Yaffle Press.  She is the chief editor of Runcible Spoon webzine publishing. Kathleen runs Runcible Spoon open mic at Miners Arms pub in Morley, Leeds. She is co-creator of ‘The Adventures of Dr Bear and Isabelle’ children’s book series.