Pupils miss 14 million lessons

Over 14m lessons were missed in south schools without reasonable excuse.

A crackdown on truancy gets under way next week, as figures reveal pupils in the South missed more than 14 million lessons during the last academic year.

Statistics from the Department of Education show students from Hampshire missed 1, 640,000 secondary school lessons and 151,000 primary ones without reasonable excuse.

In Oxford a total of 1,374,000 classes were missed, while in West Berkshire students were absent from 392,000 lessons altogether.

From Monday, uniformed officers with the backing of education bosses, will be stopping youngsters who should be in school, as part of a nationally co-ordinated project "Truancy Sweep".

The three-week clampdown is aimed at slashing the number of youngsters cutting classes.

Youngsters caught out will be asked why they are not in lessons and if they cannot give a valid reason, they will be escorted back to the school.

Parents or guardians will later be notified of their truancy by letter.