[jambutty]

Originally Posted by Gayle

So, I've just been doing some googling to find out what the legal position is and one interesting thing is that the children were breaking the law (well, actually their parents were breaking the law and could be prosecuted for not having them at school on time).

Theoretically then, the shopkeeper, instead of serving them butties should have been phoning the police.

The teacher who was trying to get them to school was ensuring that they weren't breaking the law.

I also found this statement
Local authorities (LAs) are responsible, by law, for making sure parents fulfil their responsibility of ensuring that their child receives an education either by regular attendance at school, or otherwise. Most LAs employ education welfare officers, (also called education social workers) to monitor school attendance and to help parents meet their responsibilities.

To me, that sounds like the teacher was perfectly within their rights to tell the pupils to go into school.

Why should the shopkeeper be phoning the police just because a group of school children come in to buy something during school hours? It could be argued that it would be the public-spirited thing to do but the shopkeeper was under no obligation to do so. For all the shopkeeper may have known, the kids’ absence from school at that time was authorised.

How many of the contributors to this thread praising the teacher and by definition castigating the shopkeeper, the reporter and all those who disagree with their viewpoint, would turn away custom if they happened to own a shop near a school? How many of those people have actually run a shop? No doubt there will be some who will stick up a “holier than thou” hand in the air and declare that they would. The bottom line rules in business and if it is not in the black you go out of business.

Was the teacher an “Education Welfare Officer”? If not, that teacher did not have the authority to act as s/he did outside of the school. However “monitoring school attendance and to help parents meet their responsibilities” is a long way from having the authority to burst into a shop and demand (not ask mind you) that the pupils get on to school. Monitoring means looking and making a note of and helping parents is knocking on the front door and offering advice on how a parent can ensure that their kids attend school on time. It is not angrily bursting into a shop and demanding that the school kids inside head for school.