A Bradford school is to become one of the first in the country to send warning text messages to the parents of truanting pupils.

Tong School is trying out the new technology developed by a software firm in Leeds.

Under the automated system starting in September, text messages will go to parents of children who fail to turn up to morning registration.

Most schools employ people to telephone the homes of children who do not turn up for school, but the new technology saves on staff time.

Today Lyn O'Reilly, deputy head at Tong, said: "We have two members of the admin support staff who currently do first day calling, they are making around 50 calls per day. Text messages will cost us eight pence each, so it will be cheaper."

She said the system could also be employed to send parents reminders about parents' evenings and other events.

Stephen McCann, of Leeds company Cynap, said: "The software is free to schools, but we get a share of the text messaging revenue from the phone operators.

"We wanted to start with two schools in the region and expand it nationwide. We called round to some local schools and a few responded, including Tong.

"This is an expanding market, 45 million people now own mobile phones and the great thing about text messages is that you can get them out to a lot of people very quickly."

Government recommendations are that schools ensure they make "first day contact" whenever a child is absent.

A computerised system called Truancy Call is also available to schools at a cost of £4,000, which saves staff time by automatically making the calls to parents' home, work and mobile numbers.

The system has been hailed a success after operating in at least 100 schools across the country.

The latest figures show Tong has the fourth worst truancy rate in Bradford. Last year pupils missed four per cent of half days through unauthorised absence, compared to 2.5 per cent across the Bradford district as a whole and 1.1 per cent nationally.