Parents get the message if truant children skip classes

PARENTS of pupils at Forrester High School will now receive alerts by e-mail, text and voice calling if their children go missing from school.

Forrester has become the latest city school to sign up for Truancy Call technology, which allows school staff to make first-day contact with parents of absent children.

Truancy Call automatically calls, texts or e-mails parents until a response is received.

Once a response is received, calls that day are stopped automatically.

Derek Curran, headteacher at Forrester High School, said: "It has freed up time for the educational welfare officer, who no longer has to be on the phone all the time and it has made a real difference to our unauthorised absence levels.

"We have had a very pleasing reaction from the parents as the system reminds them that they must inform the school straight away if their child is absent."