Dad faces court after daughters skip too many days at Kanahooka High School

The Koonawarra father, who cannot be named for legal reason, pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to cause a child to attend school and was ordered to pay $500 for each offence in Wollongong Local Court on Thursday.

Magistrate Michael Stoddart gave the father a stern talking to and warned him of the potential consequences if he did not make his daughters attend school.

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"Were you just hoping they would turn up to school?" he said.

"Your daughters are at that age where they have to school because that is the best thing for them.

"Otherwise they could end up becoming defendants or worse victims.

"They are at a tough age for parents.

"You only get one shot at raising your kids. There are resources available at the school who can help."

The father, through his lawyer Cate Doosey, said the situation had got worse at home once he started working as a pool installer requiring him to leave home at 4am, and the family lived a half an hour walk away from the nearest bus stop.

"He terminated his employment because he could see it was not working," Ms Doosey said.

"The family has also now moved closer to the school."

Ms Doosey said the single parent had tried to implement measures to make his daughters go to school.

"He gave them a talking to, elicited promises from them, got them opal cards," she said.

"The girls disobey his wishes. He wants them to go to school. He understands the importance of education.

"He has pleaded guilty because he knows the situation in the house was impractical as the girls were unlikely to get themselves up and to school."

Ms Doosey said the father was likely to organise counselling for his daughters so they could see the consequences of their actions.

Prosecution lawyer representing the Department of Education, Neill McCarthy, said the department been in regular contact with the father since 2018 to no avail.

"There has been extensive liaison since late 2018," he said.

"The goal of the department is not to punish people but to make children go to school."

In facts tendered to court, the older daughter was absent from school for 31 days and the younger daughter was absent 32 days between July 23 and September 27 last year.

Before November 5 2018, the school had called the father, sent a letter to home, had meetings and put in place an "attendance improvement plan".

However, the older daughter's attendance did not improve through terms one and two, the latter of which she only attended 25 per cent of days.

By July 2019, the younger daughter's poor attendance was noted.

A home school liaison officer from the department contacted the father to help him improve the daughters' attendance.

The department also said a medical certificate was not presented to the school following the older daughters' four-day absence due to illness.

By August 8, both daughters' overall attendance for the year was below 30 per cent.