FOUR schools in the North-East have been named and shamed in a hit-list targeting persistent truants.

Branksome and Eastbourne schools, in Darlington, and Kenton School and West Gate Community College, both Newcastle, have been included in the list of 198 schools with "serial truants".

The Government aims to target the truanting children and their parents. If a child's attendance does not improve within 12 weeks, court action can be taken against parents, leading to a fine of up to £2,500 or three months in jail.

The latest performance tables published by the Government today show Branksome School lost 4.8 per cent of half days because of unauthorised absence, while for Eastbourne the figure was 4.4 per cent.

The national average is 1.3 per cent and the average for Darlington as a whole was 1.9 per cent during 2004-2005.

Chris McEwan, Darlington Borough Council's cabinet member for children's services, said: "We have had an attendance strategy in place since last September and, since then, our truancy figures have improved.

"In the last year, five secondary schools have seen an improvement in truancy."

But schools with higher absenteeism rates may not have been included on the list, because, although they may have high overall truancy rates, this might not be down to a hardcore of pupils.

Today, one of the Government's flagship academy schools, the King's Academy in Middlesbrough, is named as having the country's worst truancy record, at 7.3 per cent, closely followed by the town's failing Unity City Academy with 6.2 per cent.

A King's Academy spokeswoman said the high figure was down to the school's tough stance.

She said: "We don't authorise holidays in term time, so if parents take children out for a fortnight, it amounts to a lot of lost time. And, if a child turns up five minutes late, and without a letter, it is marked down as an unauthorised absence."