Good morning, everyone, and thank you so much for being here.
And thank you to Carol and the DfE team for your hard work to bring us all together.
It’s great to see you gathered here today.
I know we’ve all come for the same reason.
And it’s not for the chance to check out this great football stadium and imagine what could have been had we not got into education.
We’re all here today because we care deeply about the children of this country.
Their education, their lives, their futures.
They are at the centre of your schools, and they are at the centre of what this government wants to achieve.
And as Secretary of State for Education, my time, my energy, my ideas, my drive, my passion – it all belongs to them, the children of this country.
Not just some children, all children.
That’s my vision for education:
Excellence – for every child.
High and rising standards – for every child.
Opportunity – for every child.
In practice, that means four things.
It starts with you, great leaders, and all you do to empower our great teachers.
Because you know the importance of top-class teaching.
You understand how it can transform young lives.
So great teachers and great leaders are the first step – they are always the first step when it comes to learning.
The second step is what they teach – the curriculum.
And you’ll know that our curriculum and assessment review is working hard on that right now.
We’ll bring in a curriculum that is broad and deep and rich – ready to set children up for the future.
The next step is building a self-improving system. How you as leaders and we as government combine to deliver better life chances for children.
Those are three big steps, but it’s the fourth and final one that we’re focusing on today – breaking down the barriers to learning.
And in particular: attendance.
It’s fundamental.
Children can’t benefit from fantastic teachers if they’re not in school.
They can’t benefit from a cutting-edge curriculum if they’re not in school.
They can’t benefit from your hard work, or from everything this government is doing, if they’re not in school.
We all know why that matters. Why at times it’s so frustrating.
It’s at the root of what motivates me, what lifts me up and pushes me out the front door every morning.
Because across this country, in our towns and cities, in our classrooms and playgrounds, we still see the weight of background hold so many children back.
Children from certain parts of the country, children growing up in poverty, children with special educational needs.
And we must recognise that absence is at the centre of their stories.
It takes those early gaps that show up between children – and it crowbars them further apart.
I’ve seen it happen – and I know you have too.
When I was a child, skipping school was never an option.
My mam saw that I went off to school every day – and that was the end of it.
My schools were places I wanted to be. I had teachers who made me feel like I belonged in their classroom.
And so even on those grey and drizzly mornings – off to school I went, because that was the place for me.
But there were children on my street who weren’t so lucky.
They started by missing a day here or there. Testing the boundaries.
And when nobody stopped them, that day here or there turned into a day a fortnight, a day a week, until suddenly they were out of school more than they were in school.
I’d see them hanging around the park, or outside the corner shop – but rarely in the classroom.
I saw that process play out time and again – and I saw the damage it did.
I saw how it held children back from becoming all that they could be.
You’ll have seen it too.
And it’s this time of year when the effects become clear.
Because we meet today in the middle of exam season.
Children all over the country are squeezing in some last-minute revision.
But as education leaders, you’ll all know – the key to exam success is not cramming but consistency.
It’s the hard work – from days into weeks, weeks into months, months into years – that’s the foundation for success in exams.
And we build that foundation for our children through attendance.
Children in school, day in, day out.
So the smiles on results day in August – they are built on consistently showing up for school from September to July.
We know that, there’s solid data behind it, but I’m sure you all see it across your schools and in your trusts and local authorities: top class attendance leads to top class exam results.
But you’ll also know that there will be children in August, standing on the steps in front of your schools, not smiling but frowning.
Who feel the sting of disappointment when they open their envelopes.
Children who were held back from doing their best because they just weren’t in school enough this year, or last year, or the years before that.
Because those missed days – they may have felt harmless at the time – but they add up.
And children carry that extra weight with them into the exam room, and on into life beyond school.
The truth is that this is happening to far too many children.
This morning, children across the country are taking GCSE maths exams, so I’ll sprinkle some statistics into my speech today.
This statistic should shock us all.
1 in 5 children are persistently absent from our schools.
That’s 1.5 million, missing roughly a day every other week.
1.5 million. This isn’t a side issue, it’s not a niche problem to talk about in between the big education conversations.
This is the big education conversation.
Getting children back in school every day, back learning every day, back building towards a brighter future every day.
That’s the challenge for me, for you, for parents, for everyone in this room, for anyone across the country who cares about our children’s futures.
On that, I’m incredibly ambitious.
And since we’re meeting here at Villa Park, I hope you’ll allow me one or two football analogies, especially as my private secretary James, who is with me today, is a lifelong Aston Villa fan.
James tells me that since Villa were promoted from the Championship to the Premier League in 2019, attendance at matches here in this stadium, as a percentage of max capacity, has gone from the mid-70s to the high-90s.
Only 2 or 3 seats in every hundred sitting empty on match day.
I want to see the same in our schools. And then I want to see even better.
We need to go from Championship to Premier League.
And the way we do that is by each recognising our joint responsibility to our children.
Government, schools, parents – working together to get children back in the classroom.
Parents have the responsibility to send their children to school. Of course they do.
But what schools do matters too. We can see it in the data.
Because within local authorities or trusts – there are similar schools, facing similar challenges, but with very different records on attendance.
Some doing really well. But in others we need to see more progress.
About two thirds of the difference can be explained by things like where the schools are and the communities they serve.
And I’m sure a bit reflects the complexities of schooling that we just can’t measure.
But there is a chunk, a big chunk, that is under the control of school leaders.
The data is clear – your leadership matters.
And we’re arming you with that data. You now have access to AI-powered reports for each of your schools.
You can see how each school’s performance compares with 20 similar schools.
As well as tailored tips for how to get attendance moving again.
And I’m pleased to say reports at trust and local authority level will be available soon.
Because that’s where you as system leaders come in, where you can think strategically across your schools.
On resourcing.
On accountability.
On data.
You can make a big difference on attendance, you can make a big difference in the lives of those absent children.
And as far as I’m concerned, that’s not just an opportunity, it’s a responsibility – one that I sincerely hope you can live up to.
So think about what more your schools can do to reach that child who misses too many Monday mornings.
What more your schools can do to work with those parents who don’t yet see the importance of attendance.
What more your schools can do to make sure every child knows they belong in the classroom.
We as government are right here with you – we are determined to do more to support you, determined that you as leaders have what you need to get the job done.
Just in the last few weeks we’ve improved our data tools for you.
These tools are now harnessing the power of AI to help you quickly identify and address problems as they arise.
We’ve also given secondary schools year 6 transition data – because we know, and you do too, that the jump from one school to the next is a key moment for attendance.
Giving you the right data means you can support the right children sooner.
But we’re going further to give you what you need.
We’re launching up to 90 new RISE Attendance and Behaviour Hubs.
These will be specially appointed schools.
They’ll work hand in hand with up to 500 schools with the most complex challenges.
And they’ll lead regional networks – for schools to come together, to share what works, and to learn from each other.
We’re also boosting funding by up to £49 million to give mental health support to 900,000 more young people in schools this year.
And we’re rolling out school-based nurseries and free breakfast clubs in our primary schools – teaching children from an early age that school is where they belong.
Attendance is a generational challenge. This will take grit, it will take graft, and it will take persistence – not for weeks or months but for years.
I know you don’t shy away from a challenge when it comes to the futures of our children.
You’ve faced huge challenges before, the covid pandemic is just one example.
You’ve come out fighting, and you’ve delivered – time and again.
And your hard work to get children back in the classroom is beginning to turn the tide.
Here’s another statistic – one I’m deeply proud of and you should be to: our children have spent 3 million more days in the classroom this year than last.
3 million – what a turn around.
So thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all you’ve done to get attendance back moving in the right direction.
I can assure you, that hard work will make such a difference to all those children.
To the jobs they go on to get,
to the pay they go on to earn,
to the lives they go on to live.
But we can’t stop here. This isn’t the end of our journey on attendance. It’s just the beginning.
Now is the time to kick on, now is the time to take our action to the next level.
So thank you for coming today,
thank you for your hard work,
and thank you for your continued commitment to getting our children back in the classroom – once and for all.