A TWO-day sweep of potential school truants in West Somerset and Taunton Deane resulted in a total of 27 children being stopped in the street or visited at home.

Ten of the youngsters caught in the joint Somerset County Council and Avon and Somerset police crackdown were found to be out of school without good reason and were returned to class.

And their parents have been warned that they could now face a criminal record.

None of the schools involved have been identified by the county council, although the authority has said it will release details of any action taken against parents or guardians of the children involved later this month.

The rate of persistently absent children - those missing more than 15 days of school without authorisation - currently stands at 6.2 per cent in Somerset.

This is roughly equal to an England-wide average of 6.1 per cent but above the South West average of 5.8 per cent.

A total of 116 penalty notices were issued to parents of persistent truants in Somerset in 2011 and since last September there have been 32 court cases that have resulted in parents being fined.

Figures released by the Department of Education earlier this year revealed that children who frequently truant are four times less likely to achieve five or more GCSEs at grade C.

County council cabinet member for children and families Cllr Frances Nicholson said children needed to turn up for school if they were to get the education and qualifications needed to compete in the job market or set up their own businesses.

"I am pleased that the education attendance patrols have identified many cases for us to take action on during a successful week," she said.

"There were some feeble excuses given but where family or personal hardship has left a child unable to attend school, our officers will be helping to turn that situation around."

Police described the attendance sweep as an excellent example of partnership work by both education attendance officers and the Avon and Somerset police beat teams.

The force's youth project co-ordinator Jenny Maynard said any child between five and 16 years old found out of school was stopped and spoken to, to establish why they were absent from school.

"If a child was found unaccompanied by an adult, they were taken to a place of safety and their parent or guardian informed," she said.

"This multi-agency approach is paramount in working towards preventing young people from becoming involved in anti-social or criminal behaviour when absent from school."

Among the 17 children not found to be truanting from school, eight were signed off as sick, four were running late on their way to school and five were visiting the county on holiday.