Ideas on how to combat truancy in Keighley schools - where Greenhead Grammar has one of the highest rates in the country - are to be thrashed out at a special conference.

The event is being spearheaded by Julie Evans, Keighley's anti-truancy co-ordinator who took up her post last autumn. It will be opened on Friday at Cedar House, Lawkholme Lane, by Keighley MP Ann Cryer and chaired by Labour Councillor Andy Mudd.

The conference, called Keighley, A Learning Community Attending to Achieve, will also be addressed by Diana Cavanagh, Bradford Council's Director of Education.

Mrs Evans said teachers, social services, police and representatives from the youth and careers advisory services would be among the people attending. The event would consist of a series of workshops during which individuals would explore various areas of the truancy issue.

"We will be looking at how we can move forward and start developing ideas for the future," she said.

"Most teachers in primary school will say they can identify very early on which children are potentially likely to become disaffected by school. But it's a very complex issue - it is not straightforward.

"We do not want to focus on the negative aspect. We need to be trying to show these youngsters how exciting and valuable education is. And we must get parents involved."

She said local senior schools all had their own schemes to combat truancy but it was hoped the conference would help spark off new ideas and ways to tackle the problem.

Coun Mudd said he hoped it could develop into a standing conference so that people could work together permanently.

"I see this as an issue for society, not just for schools," he said. "We need to raise the profile about non-school attendance to demonstrate that the best way forward is to work together and not leave individual schools to handle things on their own."

In December last year Government figures revealed that Greenhead's truancy levels had almost doubled in a year - from 2.7 per cent to 4.3 per cent - putting it among the worst 200 schools in the country.

Keighley's grant-maintained Oak-bank School was also singled out as having truancy problems, although it had made a marginal improvement over the year - from 3.6 to 3.5 per cent.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.