Attendance and belonging - Support for schools and settings

Expectation

There is a culture of professional curiosity about changes in attendance at the earliest stages.

Professional curiosity makes it more likely that the reasons underpinning changes to attendance will be identified and supported.
Early support for children and young people experiencing attendance difficulties leads to better long-term outcomes and reduces the impact of non-attendance on mental health, academic progress and social development.

Leaders enable whole school policies to be applied flexibly with reasonable adjustments to support attendance.
Whole school training raises awareness of the complex factors which influence attendance. Within school lesson avoidance, is sought to be understood, in addition to difficulties attending school.
There is a clear process for identifying, monitoring and supporting attendance concerns early on.
Whole school provision enables ‘soft starts’ to the day or ways to support transitions from home to school.

Teachers are supported to understand how they can support and intervene early on.
Relationships are maintained with the pupil when they are not attending through ‘check-in’s’, phone calls, holding in mind, sending work home etc.
The pupil is welcomed back sensitively into the class when they return, teachers notice them and comment on their interests to build trust.

Parents and pupils are seen as partners in good attendance and are engaged in conversations early on.

Parents and pupils have unique insights into personal circumstances, so support can be tailored to meet specific needs and situations.
Research tells us that when parents and schools listen to each other and work together, it has a positive impact on attainment and student well-being.

Strengths based home school meetings create a shared understanding of difficulties impacting attendance, action plans are co-produced, and a culture of blame is avoided.
Pupils’ views around attendance are sought routinely, using scaffolds where appropriate, and are woven into action plans.
Open channels of communication are maintained with pupils and families via named contacts in school.
Schools work alongside parents and pupils to develop plans for reintegration.
Reintegration meetings are family-centred and plans for reintegration are co-developed.

Key adults, class teachers and form tutors know children well and notice patterns in non-attendance which they follow up with curiosity.
There are processes in place for regular communication between teachers and families, for example email, phone call, home or schoolbook.