A "TEXT a truant" alert service will be introduced at six Hampshire schools to find missing pupils within minutes of the bell being rung.

The Department for Education and Skills (DFES) unveiled plans for text messages to be sent to the mobile phones of parents whose children are absent, or to the pupils themselves.

The alerts will be introduced at around 400 schools with "persistent absence" problems.

They include Quilley School of Engineering in Eastleigh, Bridgemary Community Sports College in Gosport and The Neville Lovett Community School and Continuing Education Centre, Fareham.

Controversially, it is the first time the DFES has "named and shamed" those schools, where pupils are absent for at least one-fifth of sessions.

Under the scheme, all schools will be given cash to set up a computerised registration system, already in place in many.

Neil Dewhurst, head teacher of Neville Lovett Community School said that a hard core of truants last year led to a blip in the school's figures.

"We have a computerised registration system and are planning to introduce the text alert service next year.

"At the moment we phone parents of children who have not turned up to school but that can be very time consuming.

"An automatic texting service is a much better way of doing it."

Mr Dewhurst said that this year's truancy figures were better and the school was making sure that pupils turned up to lessons.

"It's vital pupils turn up to school to ensure the continuity of their progress. If children are missing lessons over a period of time their learning is disrupted."

A DFES spokesman explained: "A text message will be sent automatically - either to the parent, or the child - saying Please inform us if there is a reason for not being in school today'.

"If the school doesn't get a return call, it can then call the home of that pupil directly to inform the parent that their child is absent."

The spokesman said the service would also help keep children safe, because their parents would know they had failed to turn up to lessons.

Mothers and fathers would not be forced to supply mobile phone numbers, but the text alert service was expected to be popular, he added.

The announcement came as ministers were forced to admit that truancy in England's secondary schools is at least 18 per cent worse than first thought.

The much higher rate of unauthorised absence emerged after the DFES decided to record the figures separately for each term, rather than annually.

The new figures suggested around 43,000 pupils skipped secondary school every day last year.

However, the summer term was still only counted up to the half-term at the end of May last year, so the true picture is likely to be even worse.

More girls skipped lessons than boys and children from poor families were almost three times more likely to play truant than their fellow pupils.

The schools being trialled are: Bridgemary Community Sports College, Gosport; Quilley School of Engineering, Eastleigh; The Neville Lovett Community School and Continuing Education Centre, Fareham; Staunton Park Community School, Havant; Warblington School, Havant; The Connaught School, Aldershot.