Now parents are fined for picking up pupils late

PARENTS face being fined for arriving late to collect their children from school after teachers got fed up with being ‘taking advantage of’.

Staff at Henley Green Primary School said a ‘small number’ of parents were playing the system by leaving pupils behind after hours without a reasonable excuse.

Now the head teacher has written to families warning they will be fined £6.50 for arriving more than 15 minutes after the end of school without an explanation.

Parents branded the decision ‘disgusting’, saying that some could not afford to pay the fine. But the school, in Wyken Croft, Coventry, said the measure was necessary to combat parents who regularly turned up late.

The move comes after schools in and London and Hampshire announced plans to fine parents £60 if pupils are repeatedly late for registration. Parents who refuse to pay could be prosecuted and even jailed.

Henley Green head teacher Joanne Murphy said: ‘There are a number of children, whose parents are regularly taking advantage of the situation. We are not sitting here trying to make money out of it.’

For parents whose children attend the afternoon nursery sessions, or are pupils at the primary school, both of which end at 3.15pm, the charge is applied if they arrive after 3.30pm.

For morning nursery, which ends at 11.30am, a fine of £6.50 will be levied if a child’s parents arrive later than 11.40am. And those collecting their two-year-olds from the Little Acorns programme are charged £10 if they are ten minutes late. In a letter to parents, Miss Murphy and Bill Hedges, the head of the governors, said late pick up times impacted pupils’ welfare.

According to the letter, the charges will be logged in school records and ‘only exceptional circumstances’ will be accepted as excuses for lateness.

The letter read: ‘Being late to pick up children is unacceptable and impacts on children’s welfare and on staff being able to attend training and meetings. There are also issues around health and safety and staff to children ratios.’

Becky Hill, who has a son and daughter at the school, said: ‘It’s disgusting. People who live around here can’t afford a lot.

‘They shouldn’t take money they should do something else to get them to come on time.’

Miss Murphy insisted the measure is necessary, adding that it was mainly a deterrent and that no fines had been issued since it was adopted in February.

She said: ‘Our first port of call if any child is being collected late is to contact a parent, speak to them about their circumstances and offer any support we can…

‘Our good relationships with our families mean that generally parents let us know privately about any family circumstances that may impact on ability to collect children.’

‘The school is being taken advantage of’