A 'parent' is defined in education law as including all natural parents, including those who are not married; any person who has parental responsibility and any person who has care of a child.

Everyone who is a parent, as defined above, has a right to participate in decisions about their child's education; even though for day to day purposes the school's main contact is likely to be a parent with whom the child lives on school days.

Unless there is a relevant court order limiting their involvement with their child, parents who do not live with their child, but who contact a school directly to make a request, have the right to receive information from the school (such as pupil reports); the right to participate in activities (such as voting in elections for parent governors); the right to be asked to give consent to activities (such as school trips); and the right to be told about meetings involving their child (such as a governors' meeting on their child's exclusion).

For more information about the rights of all 'parents', in terms of their involvement in their children's education, see the A to Z entry for parental responsibility.

Attendance 

Parents are responsible for ensuring that their children of compulsory school age receive full-time education either at school 'or otherwise'. Parents whose children are on a school roll have a duty to ensure that their children attend regularly. 

Schools, in turn, are strongly encouraged to adopt a policy of contacting parents on the first day of a pupil's unexplained absence. 

Note:  compulsory school age is from five to the last Friday of June in the school year that a child turns 16.

School information  

Schools should make parents aware of the following policies and documents in school which will apply to their child:

  • the school prospectus 
  • the home-school agreement 
  • the school's discipline and behaviour policy (including information about detention)  
  • complaints procedures.

Information for parents 

Parents have a right to be informed of their child's progress in school. The law requires that headteachers of maintained schools provide parents (and pupils if they so request) with:

  • a report about the pupil's educational achievements each year  
  • access to the educational record for the pupil if they request it in writing.

Parents may also request, 'at all reasonable times', access to information relating to the school curriculum. 

Governing bodies, with support from the headteacher, must:

  • Publish annually a report which gives a summary of the steps taken by the governing body in the discharge of their functions  
  • Hold an annual parents' meeting to discuss the report and the discharge by the governors, headteacher and LA of their functions in relation to the school.