A teenage pupil played truant almost as many days as he attended classes, magistrates were told yesterday.

The 15-year-old boy was said to have managed only a 53 per cent attendance rate between the beginning of March and the end of the summer term.

Judith Penrose Brown, an educational social worker with Oxfordshire County Council, said the youth had been present on only 85 out of 158 occasions when he should have attended school.

As a result, the boy's parents appeared before Wantage magistrates accused of failing to send their child to school.

Although they denied the charge, magistrates found them guilty and gave them each a conditional discharge for 12 months. They were also ordered to pay costs of £100.

Magistrate Timothy Hackett told the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons: "We are not letting you off, but there has been some improvement since September. We need to ensure you continue with the good work." The father of the boy told the court they had made sure their son got up in time and caught the bus to school each day and had done all they could to ensure his attendance. But the boy either failed to arrive or register and then left before lessons.

He added: "He has put us through a lot of pain over the last two years and we're just about getting back on track. This is the last straw, being taken to court."

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