Introduction

Improving attendance is everyone’s responsibility. The barriers to accessing education are wide and complex, both within and beyond the school gates, and are often specific to individual pupils and families. The foundation of securing good attendance is that school is a calm, orderly, safe, and supportive environment where all pupils want to be and are keen and ready to learn.

Working Together to Improve School Attendance

Successfully treating the root causes of absence and removing barriers to attendance, at home, in school or more broadly requires schools and local partners to work collaboratively with families.

Some pupils find it harder than others to attend school and therefore at all stages of improving attendance, schools and partners should work with pupils and parents to remove any barriers to attendance by building strong and trusting relationships and working together to put the right support in place. Securing good attendance cannot therefore be seen in isolation, and effective practices for improvement will involve close interaction with schools’ efforts on curriculum, behaviour, bullying, special educational needs support, pastoral and mental health and wellbeing, and effective use of resources, including pupil premium. It cannot solely be the preserve of a single member of staff, or organisation, it must be a concerted effort across all teaching and non-teaching staff in school, the local authority, and other local partners.

Raise the profile of attendance

Schools can raise the profile of attendance with parents and the wider community through the use of home-school agreements, parents’ evenings, school newsletters, or other medium.

What should I do if my child is absence from school or I am worried about my child’s attendance?

Schools should emphasise parents’ prime responsibility for ensuring attendance by asking parents to inform them as soon as possible if their child will not be attending school on a particular day. If a pupil is absent without explanation, school should contact the parents that same day, including in cases where the pupils truant lessons after registration. By contacting the parent, the school also ensures that the parent is aware that their child is not in school enabling the parent to take steps, where necessary, to establish that their child is safe.

Involving Parents

Evidence shows that early identification, conversations and relationships are key in tackling poor school attendance. Conversations with pupil and parents should take place to discuss attendance concerns, identify areas of support that are needed and put in place an effective written and reviewed plan.

Regular communication with parents is crucial in raising the profile of school attendance and punctuality. Some examples of engaging; notice boards, letters home, texts, emails, school website, phone calls home and face to face discussions and meetings.

Personal Attendance Plan and/or offer of Early Help Assessment

We know that barriers to attendance can be wide and varied for many children. Taking time to understand the child’s point of view and work together with both parents, child and the school is essential to agreeing an effective written and reviewed plan of support.

A personal attendance plan or early help assessment can be used to support in identifying barriers to attendance and agreeing a plan of support with both the child and family.

School are partners should work together to:

Graduated response to attendance

The guidance below sets out the expectations of actions that you should consider taking at each stage of a child’s absence.

Legal process and information for parents

Regular and punctual attendance at school is both a legal requirement and essential for pupils to maximise their educational opportunities.

Sanctions of any nature are for use only where parental co-operation in this process is either absent or deemed insufficient to resolve the presenting problem. They are never used as a punishment, only as a means of enforcing attendance where there is a reasonable expectation that their use will secure an improvement.

Penalty Notices

A penalty notice can be issued to parents or carers who don’t ensure that their child goes to school on a regular basis. The penalty notice is £160 per parent per child. If paid within 21 days this is reduced to £80 per parent per child for a first offence.

The issuing of a Penalty Notice is appropriate in the following circumstances:

•             following 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a term

•             parentally condoned absences

•             unauthorised leave of absence in term- time

•             late arrival at school after the register has closed

We expect all children to attend every day, when the school is in session, as long as they are fit and healthy enough to do so. Regular school attendance is essential if a child is to make the most of the educational opportunity available to them.

St Stephen’s Primary School takes seriously its responsibility to monitor and promote the regular attendance and punctuality of all its pupils. We acknowledge that irregular attendance and punctuality: -

• seriously disrupts continuity of learning

• undermines educational progress

• can lead to underachievement and low attainment

• impedes the child’s ability to develop friendship groups within the school.

What does my child’s school attendance mean?

100% – Excellent

96 to 99.9% – Good
93 to 95.99% – Room for improvement

90.01% to 92.99% – Danger Zone
90% and below – Persistent absence/Potential legal action