NATIONAL truancy figures may have increased by 43 per cent in eight years, but Mill Chase Secondary School can still boast a better attendance record than the national average.
According to government figures published last week, truancy has risen by more than a third to 1.4 million since the Labour Party came into power.
Meanwhile, the attendance records at Mill Chase have improved over the last couple of years leaving the school in a buoyant mood.
"We have 92 per attendance rate, which is two per cent above the national average and it is improving. The fact is, children enjoy coming to school and that reflects positively on the kind of education the school can offer," explained Steve Mulcahy, Mill Chase head teacher.
Truancy rates in England's secondary schools have leapt up by 10 per cent in a year despite millions of pounds being spent on anti- truancy initiatives.
The Department for Education and Skills revealed that more than 55,000 pupils missed class in the past school year, a rise of 4,500 since 2003-04 and the biggest jump since figures were first recorded back in 1994.
According to the government, serial truants who skip up to five weeks of school at a time account for a fifth of the truancy figures.
The government is now threatening to dramatically speed up court action against parents of a "hard core" of 8,000 truants - unless attendance improves in 12 weeks.
Other measures would see 146 schools across the country forced to identify their persistent truants and place them on a "fast track to attendance" scheme. Parents would then be assigned a truancy officer and receive support from social and youth services to assist in tackling problems with drugs, mental health or parenting.
Mr Mulcahy agrees that a tough stance should be taken against persistent offenders. He added: "We work very closely with the education welfare officers and support the decisions which they take. I believe that the government is right in fining parents £2,000 for their truanting children because they are not meeting the responsibility as parents to ensure the children attend schoool, and they are letting the children down in the long run."
He added: "We have administrative staff who chase up pupils on their first day of absence and follow up every successive day of their absence until they arrive at school."
Local police are also pro-active in trying to ensure children do not skip school with officers who visit schools with warnings about truanting.
Pc Pembridge of Whitehill Police said: "Usually we are alerted if children are in school uniform and it is obviously not lunch time, but even if they are not wearing a uniform we will ask them why they are not in school. They tend to give any number of excuses such as teacher training day.
"We fill out 'stop and account' forms which include a specific section for youngsters who are believed to be truanting. If their behaviour is an issue while they are outside school, it is reported to the community safety team at Winchester who, in turn, write to the parents informing them of their child's absence from school."
If children are committing crime while truanting they will be taken into custody and the local inspector, social services and education welfare are all informed as well as the offenders parents.
Adam Carew, town, district and county councillor representing Whitehill and Bordon, said: "Truancy is a growing national problem and the reasons for it are complex.
"It is clear that parents and schools need to work together to tackle this problem and I am delighted that Mill Chase is doing just that. Head teacher Steve Mulcahy, staff, pupils and parents must all be congratulated for this excellent result."
The statistics also indicate that Hampshire is below the national average for the overall number of unauthorised pupil absences which was welcomed by the county council.
Mr Kirk, the county councils' executive member for education said: "Hampshire County Council supports schools in rigorously challenging parents about pupils' absence from school in order to help improve the levels of attendance in both primary and secondary schools.
"The county council's education welfare service, along with schools, works closely with families where non-attendance is an issue to advise and support them, involving the support of other agencies where appropriate. Where this is not effective and where parents do not co-operate, prosecution may follow or other legal sanctions may be used, such as penalty notices."
Penalty notices are fines for non-attendance and came into force on December 31 in Hampshire. During the period January 1, 2005 to September 13, 42 penalty notices were issued.
"The majority of parents do want to ensure their children attend school and recognise that non-attendance reduces children's overall learning and attainment. This in turn reduces their opportunities or choices for future employment," said Mr Kirk.