School Attendance Update July 2024

As the academic year draws to a close, we wanted to take some time to reflect on the progress made this year in terms of our collective response to the requirements of 'Working together to improve school attendance'.  

As you will be aware 'working together to improve school attendance' was revised and re-published in February 2024 and will become statutory guidance from 19th August 2024. There are 4 key aspects to the school attendance reforms: 

• Publication of a revised version of 'Working Together to Improve School Attendance' and revised 'Summary table of responsibilities for school attendance'.   
• Mandatory attendance data sharing by all state funded schools. The Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 come into force on 19th August 2024; they are the statutory instrument that provides for the new mandatory data-collection and replaces existing, voluntary collection.  
• Modernisation of school attendance and admission registers through laying the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024  which will revoke and replace the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006.  
• Creation of a new National Framework of Penalty Notices through changes to legislation. 

This revised statutory version ensures clearer roles for schools and local authorities and we wanted to use this update as an opportunity to highlight the support that continues to be available as you implement the requirements.  

Throughout this summer term the Attendance Service has been consulting, revising, and republishing the following: 

• NCC Model School Attendance Policy  
• Attendance Practice Checklist 
• NCC Code of Conduct for issuing fixed penalties regarding school attendance 
• NCC: Penalty Notices regarding school absence - Guidance for parents (previously known as the whole school warning letter) 
• Leave of absence request 
• Notice to Improve template 
• Penalty Notice Fines for School Attendance are changing! Resource for schools 
• Whole School Training Package 

All the above can be found on the School Attendance pages of the NCC Schools & Learning Providers website.  

We have also delivered 4 webinars: 

• Working together to improve school attendance update 
• Code of conduct consultation 
• Support First Approach  
• Changes to admission to reflect new pupil registration regulations 

Slides and available recordings can be found on the School Attendance - Training and Webinars page. 

We would also like to remind you that the 'Everyday Counts' attendance campaign assets and guidance remain available for all schools to utilise on the School Attendance - Attendance news, events and contact information page.   

And finally, we want to assure you that work will continue throughout the summer holiday period to update the School Attendance webpages including the Attendance Toolkit and available resources for schools. Including work on a timetable of supportive webinars and bitesize training aides as requested via the consultation conducted this term.  

Further support 

The DfE have a range of recorded webinars to support schools with implementing the requirements of the Working together to improve school attendance statutory guidance and these can be accessed via their YouTube page.