- Lilian Hardy, 12, played lead role at London’s Cambridge Theatre for six months
- Council heard of situation when play firm applied for child performance licence
- Sent parents a school attendance order requiring information on her education
- Failure to meet Westminster Council’s demands could lead to fine or prosecution
The parents of Matilda star Lilian Hardy (pictured) are ‘prepared to go to jail’ as they wage war with their local council over their daughter’s home schooling
The parents of Matilda star Lilian Hardy are ‘prepared to go to jail’ as they wage war with their local council over their daughter’s home schooling.
Eileen Tracy claimed Westminster City Council ordered her and husband Edward Hardy to send their 12-year-old daughter to school by March 7 or face being prosecuted, convicted or fined.
The youngster, who was one of four girls to play the lead role in hit musical Matilda, at the Cambridge Theatre in London’s West End, for six months last year, has always been educated at home.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Ms Tracy said she and her husband had ‘no intention whatsoever of complying with the authority’s order’, and said they planned to ask the council to rescind it or appeal to the Secretary of State if it refused.
She added: ‘If that fails, we would oppose the council in court – and if necessary, though it doesn’t bear thinking about, we would go to jail.
‘The European Convention on Human Rights gives us a right to privacy. People have endured far worse than us for that principle.’
Ms Tracy said the couple had decided to home school their daughter as they believed she would learn best from ‘a secure base of wellbeing’.
She added: ‘Lilian’s success seems not to be enough for our local authority, Westminster City Council.’
Lilian Hardy was one of four girls to play the lead role in hit musical Matilda, at the Cambridge Theatre (pictured) in London’s West End, for six months last year
She added that she and Mr Hardy had declined an ‘unwarranted inspection’ from the authority, as well as a request to provide some endorsement by an educator who knows their daughter, instead submitting examples of her work.
Westminster City Council told the Telegraph that it remained keen to ‘resolve this matter amicably’ but that ‘unfortunately’ Ms Hardy’s parents had declined its requests for meetings.
A spokesman added that local authorities had a ‘statutory obligation’ to ensure children were receiving a suitable education, and that the council could not solely rely on examples of a child’s work to form a view about the suitability of their educator.