YESTERDAY magistrates refused to send a mother to jail after her daughter repeatedly failed to attend school.

Joanne Griffiths, of Cwmbran, was given a 12 month supervision order, told to do 80 hours unpaid work and contribute £400 to costs.

At an earlier hearing she had been told there was a possibility she could be sent to jail.

We then questioned if, in this particular case, jail would have been the right course of action, in this case.

We still firmly believe that the responsibility of sending children to school lies with parents.

But every case is different and there appeared to be circumstances with this particular mother and daughter that made it different to others.

Griffiths had some severe difficulties in trying to get her daughter to school and appears to have at least made an effort.

She claimed there has been a lack of help available to them.

In an interview with us the daughter said it was she who should be punished, not the mother.

We don’t agree with that sentiment.

After all, that would give every parent a licence to fail to take any responsibility for their child’s education.

But we do think in this case magistrates got the sentencing right.

Let’s hope now the mother and daughter can overcome their difficulties and that the girl, who is now 16, starts to attend for the short time she has remaining of her school life.