A MOTHER has been placed under a curfew and will be electronically tagged because her children played truant from school.

Barbara Woodall, 34, is believed to be one of the first people in the country to be punished in this way.

She admitted allowing her two daughters, aged 14 and 15, to skip classes for almost five months.

Woodall, of Goldfinch Drive, Bury, had four previous convictions over her children's truancy.

The older daughter, in her year 11 GCSE year, attended just 10 out of 179 days between September last year and January. The younger daughter attended just four days more over the same period.

Bury magistrates heard that on one occasion Woodall suggested her daughters could be taken into care. She missed 15 meetings with education welfare officers and ignored letters and cards.

Woodall admitted two charges of allowing the girls' absences and was put on a three-month curfew order which bans her from leaving home between 9pm and 7am.

She is due to receive her tag over the weekend. She was also ordered to complete a 12-month parenting order including counselling sessions.

In April 2003 Woodall was fined '80 because of a daughter's truancy. Bury council confirmed she admitted two charges.

Volumes

In January last year she again admitted two similar offences and was fined '30. She was also ordered to complete a three-month parenting order, which she finished.

The hearing this week was the third time she has been prosecuted. She will face prison if she breaches any part of the order. Woodall did not want to comment on the sentence.

Education bosses in Bury said it was the first tagging sentence of its kind for a truancy offence in the town.

Alan Cogswell, principal education welfare officer, said: "Not to improve after a previous parenting order speaks volumes. She has got to make a better job of her parenting as education is vital to a child's future. We work very hard with families and schools and these children are going to miss out if things do not change."

Figures show 3,500 pupils played truant in Bury last year. Schools referred 990 to the education welfare team and 31 parents were prosecuted.

But Bury has the seventh lowest truancy rate in the country, while Manchester has the highest in the region.

Benchhill primary school in Manchester and Alder Park primary in Salford were last year among the worst 10 in the country for truancy.

Coun Maggie Gibb, Bury council's executive member for lifelong learning, said they made a "real effort" with Woodall. "Unfortunately, she and her daughters have failed to respond," she said.

Bury council was awarded '100 prosecution costs.

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