Worst truancy school 'improving'

Hengrove School came bottom of the truancy tables in 2002.

But Bristol City Council said the situation has improved following the appointment of a new headteacher who put pressure on parents who allowed children to stay away from school.

The league showed the south Bristol school lost 12.5% of half-days in the 2001-2 school year to unauthorised absence, the official truancy yardstick.

"

They have started to make a major difference and that will change things "
Bristol City Council spokesman

But a spokesman for the local education authority said new head, Stephen Murtagh, had cracked down on missing pupils.

New monitoring systems were in place to check on the whereabouts of missing pupils and officials visited parents when their children failed to attend, he said.

The council was prepared to take parents of persistant truants to court and had either done so or was preparing to in several cases, he added.

The result was attendance had improved since the start of the new school year, he said.

"We are conscious that the school wasn't really delivering on that aspect.

"They have started to make a major difference and that will change things."

A recent inspection by education watchdog Ofsted showed teaching standards were good overall and most children were learning "satisfactorily".