SCHOOL leaders who fined a parent and ordered her daughter to make up lost hours in a row over activity days have withdrawn the punishments.

Staff at Magna Academy said the 13-year-old girl would have to attend school out of academy hours and told her mum she would be fined £60 after she said her daughter would not be attending activity days on the last two days of term.

The Poole school had made it clear that all lessons had been cancelled on both days and that pupils were being offered activity days, some costing up to £40 per day, instead.

The mum, who does not wish to be named, told the Daily Echo: “I had a letter about the fine and the lost hours and I was told she would have to go in on Saturdays in September.

“After the Echo contacted them they rang me and said they were withdrawing both but I don’t believe that would have happened if I had not made it public. My daughter did not go in to school on those two days.”

The letter was personally addressed to the parent concerned and her daughter’s name was mentioned several times.

Magna Academy is headed by new Principal Rachel Hesketh and run by the national Aspirations Academies Trust. The Daily Echo contacted co-founder, trustee and deputy managing director Paula Kenning to ask why the punishments had been withdrawn.

She said: “The letter to which you refer was simply an administrative error. There is no fine and no time to be made up on Saturdays. The Principal called the parent herself to apologise for the error and the parent was very happy with this.”

Activities offered on Monday and Tuesday this week included ski lessons at £40 per day, Rockley Water Sports for £32, Altitude High Ropes at £18 for half a day and two hours at Splashdown for £11.

Free activities included puzzles and an urban heath clean.

A report about the row attracted a barrage of criticism from members of the public with some describing it as “completely unacceptable” and “so wrong.”

The parent said she did not want to spend money on activities which her daughter could enjoy with her family during the long summer holiday.

She also said she believes the high cost of some activities mean that many cannot afford them and have no choice but to take part in the free activities such as the urban heath clean.

Magna Academy, in Canford Heath, has hit the headlines on many occasions due to its strict approach to discipline.