CHILDREN in Southampton are skipping school to help their parents with Christmas shopping it has emerged.

A police and council crackdown on pupils playing hookey netted hundreds of youngsters - many with parents who said they wanted help with the shopping.

Parents were also criticised by police for being abusive to officials quizzing them about why their child was not in school.

The news was condemned by teachers unions, which said parents were harming their child's learning by helping them bunk school.

It follows the announcement of government plans to allow head teachers to fine parents who allow their children to skip school.

More than 200 truants were caught during the week-long series of sweeps by council education welfare officers and police. Nearly 30 of these children were returned to their schools.

But more than 180 of the pupils caught were accompanied by parents who said either that the children were ill or were Christmas shopping. City education boss Councillor Richard Harris said parents were setting a bad example.

He said: "I am saddened that so many truants were with their parents. Shopping is not an acceptable reason for taking a child off school. We want to work with parents to support their children's learning in school and this includes parents understanding their responsibility for sending the child to school.

"We hope that by regularly holding these sweeps we will reinforce the message to children and their parents that truanting will not be condoned."

Chief Inspector Beau Fisk of Hampshire Constabulary said: "The operation was successful in terms of the way in which staff were deployed to address the issue of truancy, but the large number of children accompanied who were not at school is a sad indictment on society - this is still truancy.

"I was also concerned by the level of abuse that police and education welfare officers received from a number of these parents, which will not be tolerated."

John Adams of the National Association of Head Teachers said truancy sweeps had revealed the problem was more widespread than first feared.

He said: "Experience of truancy sweeps across the country has revealed that this is happening to a greater extent than was previously appreciated.

"Parents are rightly concerned about educational standards. However, schools do need the support of parents to maximise the success of students."