Tangmere Primary Academy's Speed Awareness Campaign
GILLIAN KEEGAN MP
Last week also saw the launch of a new national campaign to improve school attendance. Our fantastic schools and teachers unlock children’s imagination, potential, and social skills, which is why reducing the number of absent days is my number one priority. Following the pandemic we saw a worldwide rise in school absence driven by broken habits of attendance, and new and exacerbated barriers including mental health. It is good to see school absence rates moving in the right direction - from 7.6 per cent to down to 7 per cent, but we know more is needed. As Secretary of State for Education I am expanding our system which will mean every state school in England will now share their daily attendance registers across the education sector - including with the Department for Education, councils, and trusts. The sharing of daily school registers will form a new world-leading attendance data set that will help schools spot and support children displaying worrying trends of persistent absence. When the Government came into office only 68% of schools were rated as good or outstanding, today that stands at 89%, and is even better in Chichester at 90%. I am committed to ensuring that all children, especially the most vulnerable in our society, are safe and have access to an excellent education.