FOUR children caught wagging school got the shock of their lives when officers arrived at their homes to escort them into class as part of a truancy sweep across Southampton.

The day of action saw teams take to the streets of the city, working with schools to track down pupils who had failed to turn up to class.

In total the names of 41 students from infant, junior and secondary schools in the west of the city were handed to Hampshire Police as yesterday's blitz got underway.

It's the latest action day in a series being planned to tackle the ongoing truancy problem - one that took place last month found nearly 30 children out of school without permission.

Last month we revealed how the city is winning the truancy battle, with figures showing the number of pupils skipping school have halved in the past four years.

However, Southampton still lags behind other authorities with figures from the Department of Education showing more children persistently missing school in the city than the national average.

The Daily Echo joined yesterday's crackdown which saw the city council's education welfare officers (EWO), PCSOs and police officers start the morning visiting 21 schools in the Coxford, Millbrook, Freemantle, Regents Park and Upper Shirley areas, where they were given names and addresses of those missing from class.

Some of the children were flagged up as priority cases due to their history of truancy and turning up late for class, while others had missed the odd day.

The teams then went to the homes of each child to find out why they weren't at school and to escort them back to class.

A total of 15 children visited said they were ill and they and their parents were reminded by officers of the importance to call the school to let them know and the impact of missing class.

There was no answer at another 15 address, which will now be followed up.

Four children were found at home and taken to school, three had returned to school by the time officers arrived at their homes and four said they had hospital appointments.

One teenager refused to go to school and barricaded himself in his room, prompting a warning to his parents from police.

PSCO Michael George, who led Operation Tadard, said: “This is important because a lot of the time parents don't appreciate how much of an effect it can have on their child if they don't go to school.

“We are showing them that truancy isn't accepted and hopefully it does make them think about it more in the future.

“It has been a real success and we have got plenty of positive feedback. Over the last two sweeps we have spoken to more than 60 families and only a few of the names from last time came up on this sweep, which must mean that we did have an impact.”