Truancy crisis 'threatens to damage a whole generation'

LONDON schools are having to take unprecedented measures to tackle the truancy crisis that threatens to damage a generation of children, experts warned today.

- Anna Davis

The Evening Standard reveals the "monumental efforts" schools across the capital are making to bring children back to the classroom with it being the number one problem. They include:

● Children at one academy chain being given pre-paid Oyster cards so that they can get to school.

● Police being sent to knock on the doors of children who are absent.

● Parents in some schools warned that letting their children stay at home is a form of neglect.

● Support staff travelling with anxious children on buses to help them get used to the journey.

School leaders driving minibuses to pick up children from home.

Schools are also paying for uniforms and shoes for pupils who cannot afford them, organising breakfasts and offering reduced timetables to make the return to school easier, as well as offering hot chocolate and certificates as rewards.

Leaders said they were diverting resources to the "colossal task" of tackling persistent absence and urgently needed more funding. It comes as figures from the Department for Education show more than one in five children are classed as persistently absent. Before the pandemic, the figure was one in 10.