The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: Our response

We are pleased to see the sweeping ambition of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. Its aim, that ‘no child falls through the gaps between different services and families can get help when they need it’ aligns completely with our own mission.

Enhancing the quality of teaching and ensuring there are enough school places for the children who need them will build the foundations of a fairer system. We’re also excited to see the pilot of a single unique identifier for children, which we called for in our Fair Education Priorities.

The unique identifier will be even more powerful with more detailed and nuanced data, which is why we’ve joined in coalition with #BeeWell, The Children’s Society, and Pro Bono Economics to call for a national children’s wellbeing measurement. Consistent and detailed data collection about the wellbeing of children and young people has added immense value where it has already been rolled out. This data is crucial to better understanding how to address some of the biggest challenges in education today, such as attendance, behaviour and engagement with school.