Carried out by East Sussex County Council’s education welfare service and officers from Sussex Police, the sweep is part of an ongoing campaign to reduce truancy and improve school attendance across the county.
Eight of the pupils stopped during the truancy sweep had valid reasons for being away from school, such as medical appointments. One pupil was returned to school.
Councillor Keith Glazier, lead member for education, said: "We will continue with our school attendance campaign. If children are playing truant, they are missing out on one of the most important periods of their lives and research shows that truancy can lead young people on a path to petty crime.
"Parents facing this problem can get help from their local school and from our education welfare service and in most cases school attendance problems are sorted out. But parents who continually fail to co-operate with our staff could find themselves in court. Only this week, at Eastbourne Magistrates, a parent pleaded guilty to the charge of failing to ensure their child’s regular school attendance and was given a 12-month conditional discharge with £25 costs awarded to the local education authority”.
Reference:
05/038/MF
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