Attendance news and events

Attendance News

Summary of key changes to Department for Education Guidance from 19 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 all begin at 10.30am and last no longer than an hour. Click on the link to join the webinar of your choice:

Thursday 12 September 2024 - 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.
Thursday 26 September 2024 - This webinar will provide an overview of the online referral form and a re-cap on SFA
Thursday 24 October 2024 - View this webinar to provide a summary of Attendance Codes
Thursday 28 November 2024
Thursday 19 December 2024

Following the webinar the slides can be found on our Training and webinars page.

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.

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

Parent and Carers awareness session

Please see link in article for parents and carers to book on to raise awareness of young people who are at risk of becoming involved in gangs, exploitation and violence.

Parent and carers awareness session 14 November 2024 (PDF) [204KB]