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Academy asks Parents' to help cut Truancy

PARENTS are being urged to help Stranraer Academy cut truancy levels which have been put at more than double the regional and national average.

Scottish Executive figures published last week show the number of pupils not attending the school for any reason other than illness stood at 3.6 per cent - more than double both the regional and national average of 1.6 per cent.

The school's figure is higher than any of the other 15 secondaries in the region despite a considerable amount of time and money being invested on tackling the difficulty.

Stranraer Academy is the only school in Dumfries and Galloway to have installed the foolproof Bromcom system of registering pupils. But rather than cut absences it has just highlighted who the culprits are.

Now head teacher Jimmy Higgins has called for parents to help the school reduce the figure.

"This is a real frustration," conceded Mr Higgins.

"We have invested an awful lot of time and resources into tackling this. You can have all the technology in the world but without the parental support it will be difficult to overcome."