Toggle mobile menu visibility

Attendance news and events

Everyday Counts 1

Attendance News

Summary of key changes to Department for Education Guidance from 19th August 2024

Following the new regulations coming into force and the statutory guidance coming into effect, the DfE has published a very slightly updated version of the Working together to improve school attendance guidance. There are no policy changes in the document, but additional clarification has been provided in a small number of areas as follows:

  • Clarification in paragraph 52 that independent schools, standalone nurseries, city technology colleges and city colleges for the technology of the arts do not need to return daily data to the Department. All other schools do.  
  • Clarification in paragraph 180 that penalty notices for pupils found in a public place without good reason during the first five days of a permanent exclusion continue to be charged at £120 (reduced to £60 if paid within 21 days) and do not count towards the 3-year escalation in the same way as penalty notices for absence.  
  • Clarification in paragraphs 309 to 313 that 'supervision' of approved educational activities in regulation 11(d) must be physical.  
  • Adding the statistical meaning for Code C2 at paragraph 342.  
  • Providing further guidance on Code E at paragraphs 368-370, code Q at paragraphs 371 and 372 and Y7 at paragraphs 390-393.                                                                                                   

Code Y6 - pupils who are well enough to attend school but are unable to because of public health guidance or law  

Further advice in paragraphs 388 and 389 make clear that code Y6 is used where the pupil is well enough to attend but there are Government rules or guidance to limit the spread of infection or disease which say they should not attend. Meaning, the pupil's travel to or attendance at the school would be: 

  • contrary to any guidance relating to the incidence or transmission of infection or disease published by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (or the equivalent in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland), or  
  • prohibited by any legislation relating to the incidence or transmission of infection or disease. 

Code T - 'no fixed abode' in relation to mobile children  

The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 and the Working together to improve school attendanceguidance use the term 'mobile child' to describe a child of compulsory school age who has no fixed abode and whose parent is engaged in a trade or business that requires them to move from place to place. This is a new term but covers the same children as section 444(6) of the Education Act 1996. There are no legal or policy changes to who is covered by this definition, but the updated wording makes clear that any child who meets this definition is a mobile child as it is about mobility rather than ethnicity. The guidance is clear that the T code is used to record absence for a mobile child where their parent is travelling for occupational purposes and they travel with them.  

To ensure fairness for families and to improve consistency across the country, Ministers have decided to provide further guidance on how the term no fixed abode must be applied across schools and LAs: 'No fixed abode' means that someone either does not have a settled place where they can live full-time, or they have a place where they can live full-time but they spend substantial periods of time not living there. So a mobile child could be a child whose family travels all year round as part of their trade or business and has no permanent address at all, but it also includes a child who does have a fixed place to live (like a house) but does not live there for a substantial part of the year if their parent is engaged in a trade or business that requires them to travel from place to place. If the child is absent from school while travelling with that parent, then code T applies. 

Retrospective deletion from school admission registers  

The DfE has asked Local Authorities to clarify with schools that it is not acceptable for schools to backdate or retrospectively delete a pupil from their admission register. In line with regulations and associated guidance, the correct attendance or absence code must be recorded for every pupil on the admission register (the roll) for each session. As soon as one of the grounds for deletion is met then their name must be removed, and attendance and absence are no longer recorded from that date. If the ground for deletion is not met until after the pupil has stopped attending, for example, because reasonable CME enquiries were on going attendance and absence must be recorded up until the day the ground was met (i.e. when the reasonable enquires ended).  

Statutory Guidance: Children Missing Education

On 19 August the DfE published revisions to its Children Missing Education guidance to bring it in line with the Working together to improve attendance statutory guidance and the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024. This guidance replaces the September 2016 version.

The key changes can be summarised as follows:

Section

Key Changes

Local Authorities' Responsibilities

  • Adds expectations for local authority School Attendance Support Teams.
  • Details the requirement for schools to make 'new pupil returns' and 'deletion returns' to the local authority.
  • Emphasizes the role of local authorities in fulfilling wider safeguarding duties.
  • Provides more detailed guidance on joint working and information sharing.
  • Introduces the need for local authorities to have clear processes for securing suitable educational provision for children once found.

Parents' Responsibilities

  • Clarifies the process for schools to delete a pupil's name from the register when parents choose home education.
  • Emphasizes the role of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans or statements of special educational needs (SEN) in home education.
  • Local authorities must assure themselves that the provision being made by the parent is suitable and review the plan or statement annually.

Schools' Responsibilities

 

  • Introduces new types of returns (attendance return, sickness return) that schools must make to the local authority.
  • Specifies the conditions under which a pupil's name can be deleted from the register.
  • Emphasizes the importance of accurate and up-to-date admission registers.
  • Schools must notify the local authority when a pupil's name is added to or deleted from the admission register

Making Reasonable Enquiries

  • Provides more detailed procedures for making reasonable enquiries.
  • Emphasizes joint efforts between schools and local authorities.
  • Lists specific actions to be taken, such as checking local databases, contacting other agencies, and making home visits.
  • Highlights the need for secure communication methods when contacting other local authorities.

Grounds for Deleting a Pupil from the Register

  • Expands and clarifies the grounds for deletion in line with the updated Regulations.
  • Provides specific conditions under which each ground can be applied.
  • Includes detailed guidance on the deletion process for each ground.
  • Emphasizes the need for joint decisions between schools and local authorities in certain cases.

Children at Particular Risk of Missing Education

 

  • Updates and expands the list of children at particular risk.
  • Provides more detailed guidance on each group's specific needs and risks.
  • Includes additional groups, such as children supervised by the Youth Justice System and children of new migrant families.
  • Emphasizes the importance of joint working and information sharing to support these children.

 

Upcoming events

Attendance Spotlight Webinars

The Attendance Team hosts a regular 'Spotlight' webinar via MS Teams, this is to provide support and guidance on key areas of practice as identified by Attendance Leads. Please see schedule of dates below for the Autumn term.  Please note these webinars will last no longer than an hour:

Given the volume of changes and the statutory nature of the guidance, the first session will provide a general overview and act as a Q&A session for school staff. The webinar will be held on Thursday 12 September 2024, starting at 10.30am to join this event click here. 

Thursday 26 September 2024 at 10.30am.  To join this event click here

Thursday 24 October 2024 at 10:30am.  To join this event click here

Thursday 28 November 2024 at 10.30am.  To join this event click here

Thursday 19 December 2024 at 10.30am.  To join this event, click here.

Parental Responsibility Measures Attendance (PRMA) census for academic year 2023/24

We will be hosting a webinar and Q&A session at 10.30am on Thursday 19 September 2024 on MS Teams, to talk through the arrangements for this year's PRMA census return. As in previous years, we will continue to collect this data via an MS Form submission. During the webinar we will share the form and explain the data that needs to be captured. There will be an opportunity to ask questions and the collection process following the demonstration. The PRMA census must be submitted by the Local Authority by Friday 18 October 2024, so we ask that all schools complete the MS Form by Friday 11 October 2024. This will allow a few days before the submission deadline for data submitted to be checked by the Attendance Team and allow us to come back to you with any questions, if required.  

Book your place on the upcoming PRMA Census webinar and Q&A via the Norfolk County Council s4s website. There is no charge for this webcast and no limit to the number of delegates attending. We will look to record the demonstration but please be aware that there will be a short delay between the event and the recoridng being made available on the website.  

If you have any questions about the webinar or the PRMA census, please contact the team at csattendance@norfolk.gov.uk 

Countywide Attendance Network Meetings

We use these sessions to provide local and national updates, an opportunity for schools to share and develop effective practice to support improvements in attendance and a chance to spend time with the Attendance Team.

Autumn Network Meeting
Thursday 7 November 2024 9.30am-12.30pm

Spring Network Meeting
Thursday 27 February 2025 9.30am-12.30pm

Summer Network Meeting
Thursday 26 June 2025 9.30am-12.30pm

All Network Meetings will be held at The Inspiration Teaching Hub, Hall Road, Norwich, NR1 2RN

MI Sheets

MI sheet updates from academic year 2023/2024

 

MI sheet updates from academic year 2022/2023

 

 

 

 

 

Share this page

Facebook icon Twitter icon Email icon

Print

Print icon