PARENTS who take children out of classes during term time have been warned that they face tough action from the local authority.

This comes following reports that although attendance in the borough's schools is improving, Richmond upon Thames Council says it still has work to do.

Since 2001 overall attendance has risen from 92 per cent to 93.6 per cent in 2004, latest figures from the Department for Education and Skills reveal. A target of reducing this by a further eight per cent by 2008 has been set by the government.

Cllr Geoffrey Samuel, cabinet member for schools, said that the figures were 'good news' and show that moves to improve school attendance are working. "But there is still work to do. The levels of absence in our schools are still too high and we will continue to work hard in the coming year to ensure that we continue to improve the attendance of pupils in our schools where possible," he said.

Initiatives in schools include following up absences on the first day to reduce truancy, working with the police to conduct regular truancy sweeps and imposing tougher penalties for parents and carers.

Cllr Samuel continued: "In particular we will continue to take a hard line on authorisation of absence for holidays. Pupils simply cannot afford to miss large chunks of term time, in the end their results will suffer. Our schools do not have the resources to help such pupils catch up on time lost and, in any case, it would be extremely unfair on the majority of pupils who do attend for the full year.

"This is an issue of vital importance. It is simple. If a pupil does not have a good attendance record they will not achieve their full potential and this is our number one priority. We will continue to work closely with all our schools and I am confident that over the next 12 months our attendance figures will continue to improve."

Cllr Alison King, chair of the association of local government association's children and young people board said: "The improvements that have been made so far are a welcome indication of the hard work being done but there is still a way to go. we must build on the results to get children engaged in the education process, tackle low attendance and raise the educational standards for our young people."