A CRACKDOWN on kids skipping school was unveiled among the blizzard of pledges in today’s Queen’s Speech.
Tough attendance rules will be enshrined in law to wrestle down truancy rates that soared during the pandemic.
Teachers will be required to draw up attendance policies to ensure as many children as possible are in class.
Separately a new national register of home-schooled kids will be compiled to stop children “falling through the cracks”.
Prince Charles formally announced the Schools Bill in the House of Lords this morning as he stepped in for his frail mother.
Her Majesty, 96, pulled out of the ceremony for the first time in 59 years last night over mobility problems.
READ MORE ON SCHOOLS
Unveiling the education package, Charles said: “Reforms to education will help every child fulfil their potential wherever they live,
raising standards and improving the quality of schools and higher education.”
Other key promises include:
- A BREXIT bonanza to rip up £1billion of EU red tape still slapped on businesses
- A BAN on eco goons locking onto buildings and blockading vital services
- A CRACKDOWN on kids skipping school with new attendance rules
- PROSECUTING tech bosses for flouting tough new social media rules
- RIGHTS for renters from shameless landlord chucking them out
- LETTING councils turn streets into al fresco dining hubs
- BLOCKING ferry companies that don’t pay minimum wage from ports
- A BRITISH Bill of Rights to wrestle back powers from EU judges
- POWERS for local authorities to force owners to use empty properties
- GIVING local residents a say over street names
- STRIKING out with trade deals with Australia and New Zealand
- PROTECTIONS for Northern Ireland veterans from being hounded
- BANNING fake online reviews in a digital crackdown
- OUTLAWING cruel gender conversion therapy practices
- DRIVING out dodgy money and criminal gangs
Ministers insist good attendance rates are key to pupils’ achieving good grades.
Research shows primary school kids with no absences are three times as likely to achieve an excellent score in maths and reading than peers who missed 10 per cent of lessons.
Prior to the pandemic one in nine pupils missed more than 10 per cent of all school days.
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said: “Schools’ approach to attendance is being overhauled to make sure every child gets the benefit of every possible hour in the classroom.”
The Schools Bill will also pave the way for more schools to become academies which ministers claim improves learning.
Boris Johnson today unveiled his masterplan to “turbocharge” Britain through the raging cost of living hell.
He said unleashing the economy with Brexit bonuses was the best way to bring bills down in the long run.
But he warned against racking up any more debt to cushion the blow for hard-up families with cash support.
In a blunt dose of reality he said: “No country is immune and no government can realistically shield everyone from the impact.”
In a preamble to the Queen’s Speech he added: “We must also remember that for every pound of taxpayer’s money we spend on reducing bills now, it is a pound we are not investing in bringing down bills and prices over the longer term.
“And that if anything, this moment makes clear our best remedy lies in urgently delivering on our mission to turbo charge the economy, create jobs and spread opportunity across the country.”
