War on 2,000 school truants

Nearly 2,000 children across Oldham persistently skip school, new figures show.

Education chiefs handed out over 900 penalty notices to parents last year. Parents can be fined, made to attend parenting courses or counselling or enter voluntary agreement with the school if their child persistently misses school.

The Government changed its definition of persistent absence from 20 per cent to 15 per cent absenteeism last July.

Department for Education figures show 1,177 secondary school pupils - 7.7 per cent of all Oldham students - repeatedly skipped classes in the school year 2010/11, as did 705 primary school pupils - 3.8 per cent.



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