NAHT comments on latest school attendance data

Commenting as the Department for Education (DfE) publish the latest attendance data for schools, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“School attendance has been stable for several weeks now. This is a testament to the hard work of schools and shows that they can be relied upon to deliver complex safety arrangements whilst also providing a settled learning environment for pupils.

“It should be remembered that the government has still not supplied sufficient funding for schools to help them with the costs of these safety measures. The longer schools have to wait for this, the more likely it will be that they’ll have to raid their existing budgets to cover these costs. Ultimately, this will mean a reduction in what schools can spend on pupils themselves.

“The government needs to remember that there is still nothing ‘routine’ about this activity. It should not be taken for granted as it requires a great deal of additional effort and expense.”