One Direction backs school campaign

One Direction have joined a campaign to urge students to improve their school attendance.

The British boy band – consisting of Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson – are hoping the American Get Schooled project will encourage middle and high school kids to go to lessons.

The boys' contribution is a chirpy wake-up call, telling pupils to "get up and go to school".

"Good Morning," the message starts. "We're not used to calling people this early, so you know this is important."

In addition to this, any student who signs up to the recorded wake-up call is eligible to win a notebook signed by the One Thing singers.

Other famous faces supporting the initiative include Ciara, Nicki Minaj and Flo Rida.

Get Schooled has also launched the Fall Attendance Challenge, which pits pupils against each other in a friendly competition.

According to the organisation, more than 215,000 pupils across 28 states will participate in the effort to boost attendance rates.