AN Oxfordshire woman has been jailed after her daughter repeatedly skipped school.

The 39-year-old mother was given an eight-week sentence by magistrates after knowingly allowing the girl to miss many of her classes between May 22 and July 7.

The courts have banned the media from naming the girl - and therefore the mother.

She was hauled before magistrates in May and handed a suspended prison sentence for her child's absence. Magistrates finally lost patience and jailed her when she appeared in court a second time and admitted the same offence.

The child is being looked after by family members.

Oxfordshire County Council, the education authority, said the child was a persistent truant and warned it would take "all necessary action" to ensure children were attending schools - and the parents of those who were not, punished.

Barry Armstrong, Oxfordshire County Council's attendance and pupil welfare officer, said: "The county council takes the issue of school attendance very seriously.

"We work to ensure that all those who should be in school, are in school.

"Parents have a legal duty to ensure their child attends school.

"Clearly imprisonment is a serious outcome and, while regrettable, the council's position is clear: where parents are blatantly failing to carry out their legal responsibilities to their children in relation to school attendance, the council will take any necessary action, including legal action, when required."

Truancy in the county has dropped significantly, but figures show truancy prosecutions in Oxfordshire have almost doubled, from 35 cases in 2004/05 to 61 cases in 2005/06.

That is because County Hall has adopted a "get tough" approach, including dishing out fixed penalty fines to the parents of truants with the help of the police.

County Hall said the "vast majority" of truancy cases did not reach court, but there were occasions when a family would not engage with the support offered.

In 2002, single mother Patricia Amos, from Banbury, became the first parent in the country to be jailed for allowing her daughters to play truant. She received a 60-day sentence.

Under the Education Act 1996, the local council must prove the child failed to attend school regularly and without authorisation, and the parent knowingly caused the child to do so.