Rishi Sunak launches crackdown on term-time holidays with new plan
Rishi Sunak said school admissions had not bounced back after Covid
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Parents could be sent “pre-emptive” text messages to warn them not to take their children out of school in term time, Rishi Sunak has said.
A marketing campaign across England is being launched today to try to ensure their children go to all classes, under the strapline “moments matter, attendance counts”.
The number of secondary school children persistently absent in England has doubled in the last decade, from 567,000 in 2010 to 894,444 in 2021.
Ministers have already said they will double the number of “attendance hubs” who give best-practice advice and expanding a mentor scheme for parents.
The Prime Minister said on a visit to Accrington Stanley FC in Lancashire that he wanted to go further and suggested sending that parents will be sent text messages to warn them from taking out school without permission.
He said: "On school admissions we have had this issue through Covid, they have not returned and that is not a good thing.
"There are lots of things we are doing to improve that - attendance hubs are something we have set up around the country to work with schools, talk to parents, that we think may need a bit of extra support, use text messaging and other things pre-emptively."
"It is really important that children are in schools, and getting the education they need."
Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s shadow education secretary, will give a speech on Tuesday this week outlining her plans.
Polling from the Centre for Social Justice found that one in four parents agrees that the pandemic has shown it is not essential for children to attend school every day.