Working together to improve school attendance
1. Upcoming webinar on responsibilities where a mental health issue is affecting attendance
Many children will experience normal but difficult emotions that make them nervous about attending school, such as worries about friendships, schoolwork, exams or variable moods.
The DfE are hosting a webinar, with an opportunity for Q&A, to support the publication of the summary of responsibilities where a mental health issue is affecting attendance guidance.
This will include best practice examples for:
- steps to overcome barriers to attendance
- staff and parent engagement
- intervention options
- impact for the child
- monitoring progress
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The webinar will be on Wednesday 10 May, 4pm to 5:15pm. To register your interest, please complete our short form.
If you have any questions regarding the webinar, please email contact attendance.webinar@education.gov.uk.
- You may still register your interest in the new sector-led school attendance hubs
The DfE are launching new sector-led school attendance hubs.
Primary, secondary, special schools and alternative provision providers who wish to register their interest in joining a hub and receiving free school attendance support should complete the short application form by Monday 8 May.
Attendance hubs will be led by senior leaders in schools with strong attendance practice, who will share the strategies and resources they use for improving attendance.
Participating schools will be expected to revisit and revise their systems and protocols for managing attendance and join half termly virtual hub meetings to share practice and discuss progress and challenges.
This programme builds on a pilot hub established last year, led by North Shore Academy, which saw some participating schools achieve significant reductions in their absence and persistent absence rates.
- Compare pupil attendance with other schools in your local authority
80% of schools nationally have opted in to sharing daily attendance data with the DfE. Response rates nationally across school types this was: 82% of state-funded primary schools, 75% of state-funded secondary schools and 70% of state-funded special schools.
The figure in Warwickshire is 82%.
The DfE are now rolling out new functionality to allow mainstream schools that are sharing data to compare attendance with other schools within their local authority area. The tool will help schools to identify strengths and priorities and signpost to additional guidance and support. To share daily attendance data and get access to these tools, please email Wonde. If you already use Wonde, please accept the request in your Wonde portal.
Contact Us:
If you wish to discuss any issues relating to school attendance, please feel free to contact the Warwickshire Attendance Service: was@warwickshire.gov.uk