Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of children’s happiness at school.

The department is committed to improving pupils’ experience of school, which can affect attendance, engagement, attainment and wider wellbeing.

As set out in the Every Child Achieving and Thriving white paper, the government will work with partners to produce a Pupil Engagement Framework to be published later this year. This framework will help schools to measure and improve the key factors that determine pupils’ engagement in education, including their sense of belonging and safety, inclusion and relationships with teachers and fellow pupils. By the end of the Parliament, we expect every school to monitor children’s sense of belonging and engagement, up from around 60% of schools today, and take action in line with the Framework so more children, including those who are disadvantaged or have special educational needs and disabilities, will feel a strong sense of belonging in school.