Parents will be told to send children who have runny noses or sore throats to school as part of a new government drive to try and cut down on absenteeism.
The campaign “Moments Matter, Attendance Counts” has been launched in a bid to convince parents to send their children to school even if they have minor illnesses.
In 2021/2022, more than a quarter of secondary school pupils (1.6 million) were classed as “persistently absent”, meaning they missed out on at least 10 per cent of school sessions.
As part of the campaign there will be 18 new attendance hubs across six regions, bringing the total to 32, in an effort to help nearly 2,000 schools tackle persistent absence, the Education Department said.
The hubs are run by schools with excellent attendance that share practical ideas with other primary, secondary, alternative provision and special schools in England that need help to boost their attendance.
These sites can include a range of schemes to back schools, pupils and their families such as breakfast clubs, extracurricular activities, projects aimed at improving their processes and analysis of attendance data.
Tackling persistent absence and getting pupils to return to school has been named as a top priority by education secretary Gillian Keegan and Children‘s Commissioner Dame Rachel De Souza, who say school is key to a youngster’s start in life.
The government is also going to put up to £15 million over three years towards expanding the attendance mentor pilot programme. This is to provide direct intensive support to more than 10,000 persistent and severely absent pupils and their families.
