Enrol Every Child; Support Every Family

Every child should be enrolled in school, with government and families sharing responsibility for attendance and government providing practical support when poverty, transport difficulty, disability, family crisis or another remediable barrier would otherwise keep a child out.

The governing rule is help before coercion: support should come before punishment, while the detailed design of meals, transport, benefits, hardship rules, attendance systems, enforcement and appeals belongs in the Education and Family Support Policy Papers and legislation.

The purpose is to make universal education a realistic shared obligation rather than a demand that ignores the circumstances preventing some children from reaching and remaining in school.