The proposed bill aims ‘to raise standards in education and promote children’s wellbeing’.
The new Labour government have outlined plans to introduce a ‘free breakfast club’ to all primary school pupils across the country.
Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson set out the proposed measures at an event at the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) earlier this week.
The Children’s Wellbeing Bill was unveiled during Wednesday’s Kings Speech, Labour’s first State Opening of Parliament in 15 years.
Once approved, it will require ‘free breakfast clubs in every primary school to ensure that every child, no matter their circumstances, is well prepared for the school day and can achieve their full potential’.
The plans also include increased funding for early speech and language interventions, along with an ambition to extend the existing attendance-hub scheme to support a thousand more schools in England.
“Every day our children are in school is so incredibly important,” said Phillipson. “It damages their life chances when they aren’t there.
“So it’s about that partnership we need to see between parents and schools, but also between schools and government, because governments have responsibilities as well.”
The proposals also include using Ofsted to review attendance data, and employing AI to spot trends in absence by linking with existing records in other services such as social care.
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Department for Education (DfE) data, shows more than one out of every five children in England are persistently absent from school – double the proportion before the Covid pandemic.
Persistent absence means missing at least 10% of school days – about four full weeks from the academic year according to a recent CSJ report.
The bill states that “breakfast clubs will help tackle poverty by helping children get ready for the school day and support families with the cost of living.”
A number of schools already have their own free or subsidised breakfast clubs, some of them funded by companies including Greggs and Kellogg’s.
The new legislation will mean they’re available to all.
