Commenting as the DfE release plans to create a register of children not in school, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “NAHT has long called for a register of children not in school, so this is a move we welcome.

“Previously there has been no legal obligation for a parent to provide any notification to a school about the withdrawal of a child to be home educated. While it may only be a small sub-set of individuals who choose, for a variety of reasons, not to engage with the authority, from a safeguarding perspective this could obviously put a child at risk, with neither school nor local authority knowing for certain what has happened to that child.

“Without an officially maintained register, there is a potential risk of children becoming lost in the system. Our members have also raised concerns about children being moved across local authority boundaries without notice – it is vital that information can be shared to ensure that young people do not slip through the net. Having a national register should ensure that information sharing can occur quickly and accurately, helping to better safeguard children and young people.”

On plans to create new guidance for schools on tackling behaviour, Mr Whiteman said: “We need to remember that in the vast majority of schools there are no major issues when it comes to behaviour, and that schools already have strong systems in place for supporting good behaviour.

"The government’s current obsession with being seen to ‘talk tough’ on behaviour is frankly unhelpful. There is little need for much in the way of additional guidance at this point in time as schools are already highly skilled in this work. Instead, what the government should be focusing on is making sure that vital support services are available to support schools and pupils when they need it. It is important to find out if there is an underlying cause for an individual child's behaviour, whether it be mental wellbeing, undiagnosed SEND, or problems at home.

On the specific suggestion of banning mobile phones in schools, Sarah Hannafin, senior policy advisor for school leaders' union NAHT, who gave evidence to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee during its inquiry into the impact of social media and screen use on young people’s health, said:

“Mobile phone bans work for some schools but there isn’t one policy that will work for all schools. Outright banning mobile phones can cause more problems than it solves, driving phone use ‘underground’ and making problems less visible and obvious for schools to tackle.

“Ultimately, schools work to prepare young people for the outside world, giving them the awareness and strategies to responsibly monitor their own screen use and the ability to identify and deal with any negative impacts or problematic content they encounter.

“So we’re pleased to see the Education Secretary stating that individual schools are best placed to make their own rules when it comes to mobile phones in schools, according to what works best for their own communities.”