Improving attendance is everyone's business. The barriers to accessing education are wide and complex and are specific to individual pupils and their families. Good attendance begins with school being somewhere pupils want to be and therefore the foundation of securing good attendance is that school is a calm, orderly, safe, and supportive environment where all pupils are keen and ready to learn. Schools and MATS may find it helpful to read this section alongside the case studies provided by the Department for Education: Improving attendance: good practice for schools and multi-academy trusts and further webinars delivered by the DfE that can be found on their YouTube page Working together to improve school attendance local authority effective practice examples - YouTube.
This section identifies the key features of robust attendance practice and how these elements are explored throughout the toolkit. The Senior Attendance Champion should review the school's current practices using the self-evaluation form to identify areas of strength as well as those requiring further development.
It is important for schools to understand that good attendance is achieved when it is an integral part of school's ethos and culture.
- Ensuring that attendance alongside good behaviour is central to a school's vision, values, ethos and day to day life
- Schools should recognise that improving attendance is part of improving a pupil's welfare and will be impacted by the school's strategies on attainment, behaviour, bullying, special educational needs support, supporting pupils with medical conditions or disabilities, safeguarding, wellbeing, and support for disadvantaged students including use of pupil premium and support for young carers and children with a social worker
- Ensure that the school have a designated Senior Attendance Champion with overall responsibility for improving and maintaining good attendance. Liasing with pupils, parents, and external agencies
- Make sure all teaching and non-teaching staff know the importance of good attendance, are consistent in their communication with pupils and parents, and receive the training and professional development they need
- Ensure that attendance support is appropriately resourced, including where applicable through effective use of pupil premium funding. Where possible this should include attendance or pastoral support who can work in partnership with families, conduct home visits and work in partnership with school leaders and other partners
- Set high expectations for attendance and punctuality. Communicating this regularly to pupil and parents through various channels to help them to understand what is expected of them. To include the impact of attendance on children's attainment, wellbeing and wider development as well as clarity on the short and long consequences of poor attendance
- Demonstrate the benefits of good attendance. Throughout school using display, assemblies and registration periods. This may also include praising and rewarding sensitively and without discrimination individually or in groups
- Recognise that attendance is a continuous process by regularly reviewing and updating messages, processes, and strategies
- Recognise children missing education can act as a vital warning sign to a range of safeguarding issues including neglect, sexual abuse and child sexual and criminal exploitation
Roles and Responsibilities
Governors | Senior Management Team including Senior Attendance Champion |
Setting high expectations of all leaders, staff, pupils, and parents so that children attend school every day and are safeguarded from harm. Identifying a member of the governing body to lead on attendance matters and ensuring that there is a named senior attendance champion. - Ensuring school leaders fulfil expectations and statutory duties by rigorously evaluating the effectiveness of the school's attendance procedures so that consistent attendance support is provided for all pupils.
- Ensuring the school engages and works effectively with the local authority Attendance Team and wider local partners and services to address barriers to school attendance.
- Regularly reviewing attendance data, discussing, challenging trends, and helping school leaders focus improvement efforts on the individual pupils or cohorts who need it most.
- Ensuring high aspirations are maintained for all pupils and processes for support are adapted to the individual needs of pupils including those with long term illnesses, special educational needs and disabilities, pupils with a social worker or youth justice worker and pupils from cohorts with historically lower attendance such as those eligible for free school meals.
- Ensuring all school staff receive adequate training on attendance and that relevant staff have access to opportunities to share and learn from good practice in other schools.
- Ensuring that attendance data is shared with the Local Authority or Department for Education as required and on time.
- Reviewing the school's Attendance Policy on at least an annual basis, ensuring that the required resources are available to fully implement the policy.
| - Actively promote the importance and value of good attendance to all pupils and their parents.
- Form positive relationships with pupils and parents.
- Ensure that there is a whole school approach which reinforces good school attendance, with good teaching and learning experiences that encourage all pupils to attend and to achieve.
- Monitor the implementation of the Attendance Policy and ensure that the policy is reviewed annually.
- Ensure that all staff are aware of the Attendance Policy and adequately trained to address attendance issues.
- Ensure that the regulations and other relevant legislation are complied with.
- Ensure that there is a named senior attendance champion to lead on attendance and allocate sufficient time and resource.
- Return school attendance data to the Local Authority and the Department for Education as required and on time.
- Report the school's attendance and related issues through termly reporting to the Governors/Trustees and on a half-termly basis to the lead governor/trustee for attendance.
- Ensure that systems to report, record and monitor the attendance of all pupils, including those who are educated off-site are implemented.
- Ensure that attendance data is collected and analysed frequently to identify causes and patterns of absence.
- Interpret the data to devise solutions and to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions.
- Develop a multi-agency response to improve attendance and support pupils and their families.
- Document interventions used to a standard required by the local authority should legal proceedings be instigated.
- Set out how Pupil Premium will be used to support pupils with irregular attendance.
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Attendance Staff | All Staff |
- Monitoring and analysing pupil attendance data.
- Undertaking weekly attendance meetings with the Senior Attendance Champion, Designated Safeguarding Lead, SENCO, and other relevant staff members.
- Implementing the identified strategies for promoting excellent whole school attendance.
- Implementing the identified strategies for tackling unsatisfactory attendance.
- Managing individual pupil casework files.
- Coordinating individual action plans for pupils causing concern including the instigation of an Early Help Assessment and Plan and/ or the implementation of a attendance contract.
- Ensuring first day calling procedures are adhered to if a child is absent from school without contact from parents.
- Taking an active lead in delivering whole school initiatives such as awards assemblies and reward schemes.
- Making referrals to appropriate external agencies. Actively promote the importance and value of good attendance to all pupils and their parents.
| - Form positive relationships with pupils and parents.
- Contribute to a whole school approach which reinforces good school attendance; with good teaching and learning experiences that encourage all pupils to attend and to achieve.
- Comply with the regulations and other relevant legislation.
- Implement systems to report, record and monitor the attendance of all pupils, including those who are educated off-site.
- Ensure that registers are recorded accurately and in a timely manner.
- Contribute to the evaluation of school strategies and interventions.
- Work with other agencies to improve attendance and support pupils and their families.
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Parents | Pupils |
- Ask the school for help if their child is experiencing difficulties with any aspect of their schoolwork or home and family life so that we can offer support at the earliest opportunity.
- Take a positive interest in their child's work and educational progress.
- Ensure their child has regular attendance at school.
- Instil the value of education and regular school attendance within the home environment.
- Contact the school if their child is absent to let them know the reason why and the expected date of return, following this with a note wherever possible.
- Avoid unnecessary absences; for example, by making medical and dental appointments for outside of school hours.
- Inform the school of any change in circumstances that may impact on their child's attendance.
- Support the school by becoming involved in their child's education, forming a positive relationship with school, and acknowledging the importance of children receiving the same messages from both school and home.
- Maintain effective routines at home to support good attendance.
- Attend all meetings requested to discuss attendance issues.
| - Be aware of the school's attendance policy and when and where they are required to attend. This will be communicated to them by school staff, parents and through the school timetable.
- Speak to their class teacher or another member of staff if they are experiencing difficulties at school or at home which may impact on their attendance.
- Attend all lessons ready to learn, with the appropriate learning tools requested and on time for the class.
- Follow the school procedure if they arrive late. This will help the school to monitor attendance and keep accurate records for the child's individual attendance. This is also vital for health and safety in the event of a school evacuation.
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