Kent County Council has promised to redouble its efforts to crack down on truancy after a spot check found that more than three-quarters of children found out of class were shopping with their parents.
The swoop in Maidstone, co-ordinated by the DfES, found 104 children not in school, 80 of whom were Christmas shopping.
The figures were among the worst to come out of truancy checks carried out across 140 local education authorities between 17 November and 5 December.
Early indications from 18 of the swoops show that the number of truants apprehended was 10 per cent fewer than in similar checks in May 2003.
Of the near-4,000 children aged six to 15 apprehended by teams of police and education welfare officers across England, 21 per cent were truanting.
Almost half were out Christmas shopping with their parents.
