A SPECIALIST officer, placed in two Darlington schools to prevent youth offending, is to begin working in other schools in the borough.

However, a warning has been given that the work carried out by the Youth Offending Service (YOS) preventions officer should also be done with children at an earlier age.

The officer works in Hummersknott and Skerne Park schools, as part of an initiative aimed at reducing by ten per cent the number of first time entrants into the youth justice system by 2008-09

The prevention officer's job includes assessing potential offenders in schools, and also working with youngsters who are at risk of exclusion and those involved in substance misuse.

Another aspect of his job is working with year six pupils at Skerne Park Primary School, to support them in the transition to Hummersknott School.

A cluster plan has been developed, where work carried out at Hummersknott and Skerne Park will also cover other schools.

These include Carmel, Heighington, High Consicliffe, Mowden Infants and Juniors, Abbey Federation, St Augustine's and George Dent.

Hummersknott headteacher Pat Howarth said: "There have been some clear benefits to the school and therefore the students, the preventions officer has brought a different dimension to our work with young people.

"They themselves relate readily to him, as someone who they can relate to and find helpful."

However, Hummersknott School has also noted that a number of young people have not responded to the intervention and support.

Ten per cent of the year seven pupils who arrived at Hummersknott were already at risk of exclusion on arrival.

It has been suggested that those children were already known about for a number of years and that intervention with those children and their families could be introduced at an even earlier stage of their education.

The new arrangements for the preventions officer will be discussed by Darlington Borough Council's Children and Young People's Scrutiny Committee today, at 4pm in the town hall.

It is recommended to note the progress made within the schools, but also to monitor the situation to ensure that the quality of work produced is not compromised.