Working together to improve attendance

Guidance to help schools, academy trusts, governing bodies, and local authorities maintain high levels of school attendance including roles and responsibilities

From September 2022, this will replace all previous guidance on school attendance except for statutory guidance for parental responsibility measures.  The Secretary of State has committed to it becoming statutory when parliamentary time allows (this will be no sooner than September 2023). 

This is the first in a series highlighting different sections of the guidance.  Each section sets of the guidance sets out expectations and then breaks each down into more detail. 

Expectations of Schools (pages 9 – 20 of the guidance)

All schools have a continuing responsibility to proactively manage and improve attendance across their school community.  Attendance is the essential foundation to positive outcomes for all pupils and should therefore be seen as everyone’s responsibility in school. 

To manage and improve attendance effectively, all schools are expected to: 

• Develop and maintain a whole school culture that promotes the benefits of high attendance.  
• Have a clear school attendance policy which all staff, pupils and parents understand.  
• Accurately complete admission and attendance registers and have effective day to day processes in place to follow-up absence.  
• Regularly monitor and analyse attendance and absence data to identify pupils or cohorts that require support with their attendance and put effective strategies in place.  
• Build strong relationships with families, listen to and understand barriers to attendance and work with families to remove them.  
• Share information and work collaboratively with other schools in the area, local authorities, and other partners when absence is at risk of becoming persistent or severe

Webinars

In order to support the transition to the new ways of working, the DfE is holding a series of webinars. 

Webinar theme 

19 May 2022 (16:00-16:45)

• Sign up for a webinar hosted by the DFEon what the new attendance guidance means for schools 

09 June 2022 (16:00-16:45)

• Sign up for a webinar hosted by Jayne Lowe, DFE attendance adviser, on having a clear school attendance policy. 

16 June 2022 (16:00-17:00)

• Sign up for a webinar hosted by Star Academies Truston attendance coding practice and day-to-day processes 

23 June 2022 (16:00-17:00)

• Sign up for a webinar hosted by Sapientia Education Truston working with families, local authorities, and other partners effectively 

30 June 2022 (16:00-17:00)

• Sign up for a webinar hosted by Unity Schools Partnershipon analysing absence and attendance data 

TBC

• Effective governance to appropriately challenge leaders on attendance. 

Previous Webinars can be found at the following Link:

• Improving attendance: good practice for schools and multi-academy trusts - Case study - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

‘Working together to improve attendance can be found at the following link.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance

There will be significant change to the way attendance is addressed nationally and we are at an early stage of planning a new attendance model.  We plan to provide regular updates as developments progress.

If you wish to discuss this further, please feel free to contact the Warwickshire Attendance Service.

was@warwickshire.gov.uk