Barnardo’s is concerned that the mental health of children and young people has been negatively affected by the pandemic’s disruption to education and over the last two years. The School's Bill provides an opportunity to address the long-lasting impact Covid-19 has had on children and young people’s mental health.
Barnardo’s believes the Schools Bill must go further and address the mental health and wellbeing issues that have dramatically increased during the pandemic, by speeding up the rollout of Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) to all schools.
Since the end of lockdown, children and young people have been ‘lost in the system’ - the Children’s Commissioner has estimated that in the autumn 2021 term, more than 1.7 million children were ‘persistently absent’.
The Bill will introduce a requirement on every school to publish a clear attendance policy, which Barnardo’s supports. However, it is important that this is accompanied by increased support for children and parents to overcome the barriers they may have in attending school.