Nadhim Zahawi and absent pupils

The new education secretary has promised to tackle persistent pupil absences "head on. Making it one of his major priorities.

Nadhim Zahawi said in a speech that disadvantaged children lose out most from not being in school. While It is true that a higher proportion of disadvantaged children also end up in Pupil referral units.

The ministerpledged to invest "record sums" in children's education.

The number of pupils in England absent because of covid rose two-thirds in a fortnight.

04,000 children - 2.5% of state school pupils in England - were out of school for this reason at the end of September.

While there is also a c concern children may be missing lessons because of mental health issues.

Zahawi said: "Another key priority for me will be getting to the root of what is causing children to be persistently absent and then tackling it head on.

"Because the children who lose out the most from not being in school are likely to be the ones who can cope least, the vulnerable, the disadvantaged. You can't help them if they aren't there.

"For all these reasons, we will continue to invest record sums in our children's education."

He calls for better understanding of and support for mental health issues.

"I want us to put wellbeing at the centre of everything we do in schools alongside a drive for rigorous standards and high performance. But, of course, we can't do this if children are not at school," he added.

In response to the education secretary's comments, Paul Whiteman, NAHT's general secretary, said: "There is ambition contained in his address but unsurprisingly after only two weeks in office we are yet to see the detail."

Team work with head teachers is key to "bring the ambition of his speech to life free of dogmatic philosophical barriers".

Mr Whiteman said the government's goals for helping children catch-up after the pandemic needed a far bigger ambition.

"Recovery implies a return to what we had before, which is simply not good enough," he added.

The Government's schools catch-up tsar Sir Kevan Collins resigned early in the year. saying the £1.4bn in funding pledged to help pupils make up for lost learning fell "far short of what is needed".