A COUNTY school has taken a "good cop, bad cop" approach to truancy control during the final week of term.

Droitwich Spa High School's deputy headteacher, Peter Woodman, teamed up with beat manager PC Lloyd Buffery on Wednesday to sweep the town for those skipping school.

The route included the town centre, parks and canals, and the pair questioned a number of youths to ensure they had a legitimate reason for their absence from school.

On the same day, the Droitwich school awarded three X-Boxes - computer consoles worth a total of £500 - to top attending students, with boxes of chocolates for many others.

Good attenders were also treated to an afternoon watching videos instead of going to lessons.

"We need to send a clear message to our students that if they are not in school when they are supposed to be, we will learn about it and we will take the appropriate action," said Mr Woodman.

"This is all the more important in light of the fact that we know that attendance leads to success and not attending school leads to all sorts of problems.

"However, our success is not just due to going out and hunting for those skipping school, but because we reward those who have a 99 or 100 per cent attendance record."

Truancy sweeps were initially limited to the UK's 10 "crime hotspots" but were extended to the rest of the country by the Department of Education last Christmas.

The project is part of an on-going partnership between the high school and the police, to clampdown on truancy in the Droitwich area.

And, though Wednesday's search did not find any pupils from the Briar Mill school, Mr Woodman felt it was important to show that strict action was still being taken.

"Attendance at Droitwich Spa High School has risen from 90 per cent to 92 per cent over the last year, which is a good figure, but one that we still need to work to improve," he said.

"We have had some pupils desperate to come to school to maintain their attendance record, even when they are ill. This, combined with the fact we will take serious action against those who skip school provides a balance that seems to be working."

Last academic year's figures revealed that one in every 10 pupils in schools across the county played truant from school at least once - 6,868 out of 70,916 primary and secondary school pupils.