Teachers have much to learn from the Children’s Manifesto

‘Our schools may be Dickensian, but as the poet Leonard Cohen reminds us, “there’s a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”’ Photograph: Alamy

Simon Jenkins addresses the current moral panic around school absences and notes the lack of attention paid to schooling that for many children and young people offers too narrow a curriculum (England’s secondary schools are Dickensian. No wonder children are staying away, 8 January).

This newspaper hosted a competition in 2001 inviting children of school age to describe the school they would like. This resulted in more than 15,000 entries and, since it was the year of a general election, a Children’s Manifesto. This clearly illustrated and communicated children’s frustrations with schooling. They wanted beautiful and comfortable school buildings; a diverse, practical and relevant curriculum; time and space to think; and they wanted to be respected and listened to.