Back to School: The importance of regular school attendance and why it matters

As the number of children being absent from school continues to rise since the pandemic, the Department for Education (DfE) has implemented new rules from 19th August 2024. These are part of a broader and wider effort to improve school attendance, as outlined in the updated Working Together to Improve School Attendance 2024 statutory guidance. The changes reflect the new legal requirements and aim to ensure that all children have the best possible start in life through regular school attendance.

We know that regular school attendance is crucial for children’s educational progress, social development, and mental wellbeing. Children who attend school regularly excel in all aspects of learning, development and social interactions. They also gain hands-on experience, which is essential for developing important life skills. Schools play a vital role in supporting families and children, ensuring that any barriers to learning are addressed so that students can attend school consistently.

Working Together to Improve School Attendance 2024

The newly appointed Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has made it a mission to break down barriers to attending and accessing education. During her speech at The Embassy Education Conference earlier this year, she emphasises that under this new government, “opportunity is for everyone” and “the more we work together, the more progress we will see in the world – partners in the push for better”.

We know that by working together, schools, families, and communities can create better outcomes for all children in a “support first”, collaborative approach to attendance. We know that achieving successful attendance requires a persistent, consistent and communicative approach among children, parents, carers and schools, including any other appropriate professionals working alongside the family. The government’s focus, especially after the pandemic, is to improve attendance by going back to basics and helping parents understand the importance of stability and consistency in their children’s education, including to understand the positive impact of mental health and wellbeing and the development of social skills and peer relationships when attending school.

There is an expectation that schools build strong relationships with families, listen to their concerns, and work together to remove any barriers to attendance. The DfE recommends adopting a ‘We’ and ‘Us’ approach rather than ‘You’, which helps in creating professional rapports with families and breaking down barriers to regular school attendance. Families also feel supported and cared for when adopting this approach, rather than feeling penalised for not accessing support that is offered. This ensures schools are creating a whole school culture and ethos around attendance, inclusion and belonging. All staff need to be part of your vision and drive that emphasises the importance of pupil attendance and this should be reflected in the school’s vision, values, policies, and everyday practice.

All staff should be aware of their roles in promoting a positive attendance culture and should contribute to a safe, positive school environment. Schools should adopt a ‘Support First’ approach, providing gradual and continual support to families before resorting to legal sanctions, as a last resort. This approach should be bespoke, addressing the unique needs of each family and child and the challenges they may be facing. As professionals, it is essential to explore each family’s unique situation and understand what support is needed. By doing so, schools can make a meaningful

impact on attendance and help remove barriers to education, outlining next steps and targets. The goals set need to be achievable for each family, with regular monitoring and review.

Schools have several responsibilities under the new attendance guidance:

• Consistently address current issues around attendance
• Understand what is happening both in school and in the community, and address these issues collaboratively as a wider school approach
• Utilise local resources to promote and provide support
• Regularly review the effectiveness of support being offered and measure the impact
• Adopt a ‘Support First’, ‘relentless’ approach, providing the right support at the right time
• Implement bespoke plans for each persistently absent child and engage with local schools, communities, and external organisations for comprehensive support.

The number of children who are absent from schools is at all-time high, with attendance and safeguarding always at the forefront of school’s attendance strategies.

“New statistics show a huge increase in the number of children completely missing education. Almost 120,000 children of compulsory school age were recorded as missing education at some point in 2022/23 which is up by almost 25% from the year before” (Children’s commissioner for England, Feb 2024).

Another amendment to the guidance is that every school in England will share their daily attendance registers across the education sector, including with the DfE and councils. This initiative is part of the government’s drive to reduce pupil absence and ensure that other local schools within the community can compare their attendance data locally and nationally. It should also enable local authorities to identify specific areas or communities that may require further support from multi-agency partners and other organisations in order to improve school attendance.

What can we do to engage pupils?

Promoting attendance and punctuality in a positive way is imperative to improve attendance. We often see schools discussing educational outcomes when it comes to school attendance, but this does not always resonate with every child, especially if they are already in year 10 with significantly low attendance. It’s important that every child sees the positives in being in school. Is your setting welcoming and inclusive? Do children feel heard and respected? Are there trusted adults and is the school a safe space? What extra-curricular events or activities can pupils participate in to enrich their school experience? It’s important that pupils feel they want to come to school, not just that it is expected.

Children matter, education matters, attendance matters, rapports with parents and carers matter. Evidence shows when schools adopt a positive school ethos, partnership working and a sense of community and inclusion, pupil attendance is improved. “The answer is partnership. And the answer is education” (Bridget Phillipson, speech at the Embassy Education Conference- July 2024).

For more information on attendance strategies and support, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our Pupil Attendance & Safeguarding Team at One Education.