Attendance champions and senior leaders in schools have a good understanding about how to support students who are persistently or severely absent from school in terms of individualised support and intervention. However, developing whole-school approaches which promote good school attendance can sometimes be underestimated in terms of its impact on attendance. Universal strategies which promote good attendance should be foundational to a school’s attendance practices and by strengthening these approaches, there may less need for more individualised and intensive interventions later down the line.
When developing effective whole-school approaches to good attendance, schools must consider several factors. These factors include building positive relationships with students and their families during discussions about attendance, developing a sense of community and belonging for students at school, sound and effective school policy and ensuring daily attendance processes are robust, consistent, and transparent. To sufficiently consider these factors, schools must first seek to understand their students’ needs, by examining the nature of absence in their school and digging deeper to consider factors in students’ daily experiences which may impact attendance.
Building positive relationships with students and their families
Developing trusting and communicative relationships with students and their families takes time, but school staff should work to develop this relationship as early as possible. In doing so, staff can become aware of a student’s personal circumstances, help to foresee potential future issues, and mitigate the potential negative impact on attendance before it becomes a chronic issue. Building positive relationships between staff and students can also facilitate more trusting relationships with parents and carers which will encourage families to share concerns that might impact a students’ attendance earlier and limit severity of the issue.
“Communicate carefully to avoid stigmatising, blaming or discouraging parents. Focus on building parents’ efficacy – that they are equal partners and can make a difference”
Education Endowment Foundation
Often underestimated when working to improve a student’s attendance is celebrating successes, no matter how small, with students themselves. Some schools make use of rewards and celebration assemblies, though less formal recognition by a trusted adult at school could be equally impactful. Schools should also celebrate these successes with parents to maintain good working relationships and avoid families feeling like they are only contacted when school staff have concerns or worries about their child.
It is also worth considering how school communications may be perceived by families. There can be a distinction between what schools intend to communicate and what is understood and felt by families and pupils. Schools should facilitate regular critical reviews of their attendance practices, including communication which considers frequency, nature, tone, language, and reception of communications between school and home.
Building a sense of community and belonging for students
Developing a school culture which promotes good attendance takes time, consistency and commitment from senior leaders and staff, but is likely to reap long term benefits in terms of student attendance. Senior leaders should consider the concept of school belonging in the context of their school, a concept initially defined by Goodenow et al. (1993), and which has since been the subject of extensive research. School belonging is the extent to which students feel personally accepted, respected, included and supported by others in the school social environment (Goodenow et al., 1993). Researchers have also recognised the importance of caring and cooperative relationships with teachers and a sense of safety at school in the development of school belonging (Allen et al., 2021).
Students with high levels of school belonging have been shown to have higher attendance, improved academic engagement and better reported wellbeing than those who do not feel they belong in their school community. Certain student groups, including ethnic minority groups and those with SEND have been recognised as having more difficulty developing school belonging and should therefore be most carefully considered by school leaders when seeking to develop school belonging.
Senior leaders should consider how the school actively promotes positive relationships and attitudes including how topics such as disability, race and community are explored in the classroom. Schools can develop inclusive and accepting environments for all students by facilitating a wide range of extra-curricular activities, offering breakfast clubs, and using buddy systems. How schools approach behaviour has also been recognised as important when developing a sense of community for students in school. School leaders should consider how positive behaviour is rewarded, modelled, and reinforced as well as seeking to understand the reasons behind behaviour and addressing these issues where possible.
Attendance policies
A school’s attendance and punctuality policy can also aid whole-school approaches and promote good student attendance. Attendance policies should clearly outline the universal and targeted provision used by the school which aim to improve attendance or maintain good attendance. The details of a school’s universal provision should be incorporated into the policy and might highlight the explicit teaching of learning behaviours, academic and behavioural routines, and social and emotional skills. It may also include the use of high-quality teaching such as strategies teaching staff use to support students with SEND, with reference to the benefits of school belonging and community on student attendance.
The policy should also outline the targeted interventions available to support students whose attendance is a concern. Reference to how assessment is used to identify students in need and track progress, how interventions are timetabled, resourced, and delivered should also be made in the policy.
Most crucially, a school’s attendance and punctuality policy should be informed by the relationships school staff have with students and their families and should be reflective of their identified needs. If staff begin to identify trends in barriers to attendance, senior leaders should consider how whole-school approaches might help mitigate the impact of these barriers and this should be clearly stated in the policy.
Also worthy of consideration is the accessibility of the policy: can parents and carers access, read and understand it? Do students understand it, and do they have a good understanding of what is expected? If the policies are not sufficiently accessible, schools are much more likely to struggle in developing trusting working relationships with families and build an inclusive school community which promotes high attendance.
A school’s attendance and punctuality policy should be reviewed at least annually. This review should consider the impact of approaches and interventions, how attendance is tracked and whether barriers to attendance for students and their families require adaptation or refinement.
Robust daily attendance processes
Consistency in how absences are managed each day is also vital in developing a whole-school culture which promotes good attendance. Staff responsible for first day calling and absence follow up are often most frequently in direct contact with parents, and so it is important that absences are recorded consistently and responses to parental concerns or queries are robust and transparent. The consistency of these processes will also influence how parents and carers interpret their responsibilities to attendance and punctuality, which could have a notable impact.
Managing daily attendance also extends beyond the attendance team and encompasses all staff. There should therefore be consistency in how staff talk about attendance, communicate with students and families about attendance and how effectively information is shared between relevant school staff.
One Education’s Attendance Team are available to support schools in developing whole-school approaches which promote good attendance. This could include information, advice, and guidance on improving school culture, developing inclusive attendance policies, or reviewing existing whole-school approaches. Please contact us to discuss how we can support your school to develop whole-school approaches which promote good attendance.
More information & resources
Department for Education guidance:
Relevant research:
- Education Endowment Foundation – Supporting School Attendance – Reflection and Planning Tool
- Goodenow et al. (1993). The relationship of school belonging and friends’ values to academic motivation among urban adolescent students
- Allen et al. (2021). School belonging: the importance of student and teacher relationships
