SWINDON is bucking the national trend on truancy.

New figures show a multi-million pound Government drive to reduce the number of schoolchildren playing hookey is failing.

Since the campaign was launched in 2002, the truancy rate has remained steady at 0.7 per cent.

The national target was a 10 per cent drop in the levels of absentees.

Now, the National Audit Office, which carried out the study, is urging primary schools to take tougher action to prevent pupils getting into the habit of truanting at a young age.

Figures released last year showed Swindon was winning the war against pupils who skip classes.

While the rest of the country saw a 16 per cent rise over the previous six years, there was a fall of nearly 40 per cent in Swindon.

Coun Garry Perkins, Swindon Council's lead member for education, said other schools could learn from Swindon's experience.

"Our truancy rate is one of the best in the country," he said

"What we have done over the past couple of years is to start classes for pupils who are likely to truant.

"These are for pupils who would rather be using their hands and learning a skill than sitting in English or maths lessons.

"These are mainly for 14 to 16 year olds. It's about engaging with kids in an innovative way."

There have also been several truancy sweeps in the town centre.

And one school has discovered an unusual way of minimising empty seats during classes.

Pupils at Churchfields School have the chance to win prizes like mobile phones and mountain bikes in return for good attendance and being well-behaved.

Good students get raffle tickets, and prizes from firms.

The NAO report found non-attendance varies between schools across the country, from under one per cent to almost 30 per cent of school days.

Schools in deprived areas tend to have worse attendance records.

The report said parents should shoulder much of the blame for their children's truancy.

It said: "Negative parental attitudes to education are closely associated with absence and may also be more difficult to change once they become established."

Some education authorities have cut truancy by introducing electronic registers, which can plot patterns of absences.

Tamash Lal