Absence management process for schools

Children with attendance between 93% and 100% will receive support from their school through:

• promoting good attendance
• supporting children's emotional health and wellbeing
• working together with parents via phone, texts, letters, emails and meetings

The expectation is that schools will:

• have an approach that is centered around a school attendance policy which promotes good attendance and punctuality, with clear roles and responsibilities throughout the school. This will be overseen by the member of the senior leadership team with responsibility for attendance.
• have in place a parent / carer contact system for children who are absent from school - to establish why the child is absent, and when the child is expected to return.
• escalate in a timely manner to Level 2 if a child needs greater support/ intervention to improve their attendance
• have a praise/reward system in place for children who exceed the school's attendance target and/or improve their attendance following support and intervention
• completion of the Attendance Action Plan with the pupil and parent

We also ask that schools actively monitor school attendance and hold interventions when appropriate, such as:

• talking to children about what is making them feel unsafe or anxious
• mentoring children whose attendance starts to decline
• initiating conversations with parents and carers to advise them of their child's falling attendance and to help identify any issues
• requesting medical evidence if absences continue to occur due to illness or medical reasons
• holding attendance clinics with parents and carers to identify underlying reasons for absence and to develop and agree a plan to remove barriers to regular attendance
• maintaining accurate records of any meetings/interventions and evaluations of interventions.

Intervention at Level 1 is complete when the systems in schools for supporting good attendance have been successful.

If, following a 6-week support and monitoring period, they are unsuccessful at either maintaining attendance at an acceptable level or preventing a decline in attendance, schools should transition to Level 2.