EDUCATION chiefs have accepted that there are important lessons to be learned following the findings of the inquiry.

They say the overriding lesson earned from the Serious Case Review is that school absences should not be viewed in isolation — and it should been seen as a symptom of the problem rather than the problem.

And added they have not identified another child like "Jake", and are working with children who are not in school.

MORE: Jake Dunstan death: 15-year-old found hanged grew up amid a background of violence and drugs

A team — Early Help Team — to look at factors surrounding long term school absences had been established just months before Jake's death.

Last year, Greater Manchester Police's public protection division and social workers were brought together in the MASS team — multiagency screening and safeguarding — to establish clear dialogue.

Since Jake's death a practice guide had been drawn up on how to work with families which were difficult to engage.

More training has been introduced for professionals in light of the review.

Schools have made persistent absences a key priority — with bosses saying "very few children are out of school any length of time".

Education bosses accepted that two years was a long time to be out of school — and stressed that very few children were absent from school from for any length of time.

John Daly, Director of People, Bolton Council said much work had been done to engage with the family and Jake.

He said: "It is alarming to professionals but people were going on a regular basis to the family."

The family resisted offers of help and Jake told professionals he was fine — and added that only legal avenues were open to them to get Jake back into school.

Mr Daly said: "When someone is coming to the door to speak to a young man about going to school and he says 'I'm not going to school, I'm fine, I'm perfectly happy, I'm just not going to school. That dialogue become the focus of the worker's attention.

"and they didn't see the wider context, there is no debate about that and probably should have been seen."

He stressed that the the eduction workers had not identified another case like Jake's.

Mr Daly said: "All the children in Bolton who have a school place we either know they are in school or what they are up to and have got people working with them."

Mr Tarver added: "I would like to think now that if somebody had not been in school for that length of time we would have a more robust approach to dealing with it. We would."

Education chiefs said the Early Help Team built on the work already being.

Mr Daly said “I would like to express my sympathies to the family and friends of the young person who very sadly took his own life at such a young age.

“The family was known to the council and to other agencies and we accept the findings of the review that there are important lessons to be learned.

“There is nothing to suggest that the death could have been prevented but we acknowledge the need to make improvements in certain areas of practice and to build on the good practice which was highlighted in the review.

“We have already made progress with our action plan and are continuing to work hard with our partner agencies to ensure that the safeguarding of children and young people in Bolton is the best that it can be.”

Mike Tarver, Chairman of Bolton Safeguarding Children Board, said: “The death of a young person is always tragic. On behalf of the Safeguarding Board I would like to express our sincere condolences to the family and friends of this young person.

“We commissioned the review to see if any lessons could be learned to improve interagency working and safeguarding for children.

“We accept the review panel’s recommendations and are putting in place a series of measures to address the issues.

"The board will review the progress and impact of these measures on a regular basis.”

Mr Tarver added: "I would like to think now that if somebody had not been in school for that length of time we would have a more robust approach to dealing with it. We would."

Education chiefs said the Early Help Team built on the work already being.

Lee Harris, Principal of Bolton St Catherine’s Academy said “The case review is a detailed and thorough piece of work.

"We look forward to even closer working relationships with other agencies to further safeguard children.

"Our thoughts and prayers are still with Child S’ family, especially at this time.”

How are concerns over school attendance handled?

ASSESSMENTS are always undertaken taking into account family background when there are significant concerns about school attendance. Plans to support the child are drawn up and reviewed regularly.

Procedures and guidance is produced about responding to non-school attendance to ensure there is clarity about roles and responsibilities.

The development of mental health service for children who do not meet the threshold or cannot access CAMHS.

Systems to facilitate better information sharing and more effective ways to work with families when professionals are "stuck".

Develop an authoritative mandate for professionals who need to engage with hard to reach and hostile parents.

Examine the current training programmes available to professionals to ensure these provide opportunities for developing skills in working with hostile parents and resistant adolescents And gaining knowledge about the impact of long-term neglect on adolescents and the associated risks.

Learning for individual agencies included for children’s services social work department to always consider making an initial assessment when a child makes a 999 call and where the family is or has been known to children’s services it should always be undertaken.

And where police make referrals to children’s social care and a child has been on a previous child protection plan, the information and context of the call should be considered to determine if a visit and assessment is required.

For Greater Manchester Police they included police officers recording they have observed and spoken with children who are present when police are called out to incidents involving drugs or violence in the home and ensure there is a follow up by police when they respond to a 999 call made by a child or young person.