A major new initiative to make Exeter city centre a truancy free' zone was launched this week.

Education welfare officers (EWOs) from Devon County Council and the police are visiting shopkeepers in the city to ask them to take part in the new anti-truancy initiative.

They have produced special truancy stickers which they will be asking shopkeepers to display. The traders will also be asked not to serve children who appear to be of school age within school hours and to let the EWOs know if they are on the premises.

The initiative is being backed by Exeter's city centre manager John Harvey with Exeter City Centre Management Partnership providing the funding to produce the stickers and information sheets.

Members of the public are also being asked to contact the police or the Education Welfare Service if they have concerns regarding children and young people apparently out of school.

Any information gained will be used to target truancy patrols.

The initiative is the brainchild of Exeter police officer Alaric Spendlove, who is one of the officers responsible for the city centre.

PC Spendlove said: 'Recently I dealt with two 12-year-old girls who had, during school hours and in school uniform, gone on a shoplifting spree in Exeter city centre.

'They netted around £250 worth of property from about a dozen different stores before they were challenged.

'I thought this would be one way of raising the profile of the problem with shop staff and helping to deal with it.

'We are aiming to reduce crime and improve school attendance. If there is less being stolen from shops it will be a good incentive for them to join the scheme.'

The partnership between Devon County Council and Devon and Cornwall Police in holding regular truancy sweeps is already helping to drive up attendance in city schools.

EWOs also regularly work with families to resolve problems which lead to truancy but, as a last resort, will take parents to court.

The move is all part of Devon County Council's drive to reduce both authorised and unauthorised absence from school.

The latest figures for attendance in Exeter schools show an improvement across all three sectors.

Total attendance in the 2002/2003 academic year was 92.28 per cent against 91.9 per cent in 2001/2003.

In secondary schools the level of unauthorised attendance - essentially truancy - fell from 2.47 per cent to 1.97 per cent. In primaries it went down from 0.39 per cent to 0.35 per cent and in special schools it dropped from 0.98 per cent to 0.83 per cent.

Devon's deputy principal EWO Juliet Hammacott said: 'This initiative does not mean that we have a major problem with truancy in Exeter as, I believe, these figures reflect.

'It is, however, one more strategy in our continuing drive to reduce the truancy figures still further and we are asking for the help and co-operation of traders and the public.

'It has been said before but it is no less true: if children are not in school they can't learn and this can affect their opportunities and chances throughout life.'

Targeted truancy sweeps are carried out on a regular basis in different locations across Devon. But in December 2002 more than 300 young people were stopped and questioned by education welfare officers and police in a series of co-ordinated truancy sweeps across Devon and Torbay.

Mrs Hammacott said one of the disturbing issues to arise from the week's activities was the high proportion of young people who were out with their parents.

Around half the children stopped were with their parents. Three-quarters of all the young people stopped were in town shopping. Many were said to be ill.

Mrs Hammacott said: 'Many of the EWOs and police officers are parents themselves and we know the pressures and strains of modern life.

'However if a child is ill enough to be home from school then they should be at home. If they are well enough to be out shopping they are well enough to be at school.'

Exeter police spokesman PC Roy Adams said: 'Our number one concern is the welfare of children and we support the EWOs in the work they do.

'We do not want children, particularly younger children, out walking the streets of Exeter on their own. This is a safe city but there is always the danger that they could become the victims of crime.

'There is also the possibility that they could become involved in crime themselves.'

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