Children, Schools

and Families

PRODUCING A SCHOOL ATTENDANCE POLICY

GUIDANCE FOR SCHOOLS

PUBLICATION SCHEDULE NUMBER: / CSF0200
PUBLICATION DATE: (Month/Year) / ISSUE NO: 1
AUTHORISING OFFICER: / JUSTIN DONOVAN
AUTHORISING OFFICER’S SIGNATURE: /
AUTHOR OF PUBLICATION: / RUTH LEWIS
TEAM: / ATTENDANCE & PUPIL SUPPORT
REVIEW DATE: / MARCH 2013
TARGET AUDIENCE: / ALL SCHOOLS
PUBLISHED BY Children, Schools and Families

Contents

Page no
Introduction / 3
Where is support available? / 4
ModelSchool Attendance Policy
Initial Statement / 5
Target Setting/monitoring / 6
Expectations / 6
Doors Open / 7
Registration / 7
Lateness / 7
Following Up Lateness / 8
Absences / 8
Following Up Absences / 9
Leaving and Returning to School during School Day / 10
Truancy / 10
First Day Response / 10
Term Time Holidays / 11
Penalty Notices / 11
Rewards / 11
Integrated Working / 12
Working with the Attendance Improvement Officer / 12
Publication of Information / 12
Appendix A – New Attendance Codes, Descriptions And
Meanings - January 2009 / 13
Appendix B – Family Holidays during Term Time / 14 – 24
Appendix C – Working with the Attendance Improvement Officer / 25
Appendix D – Index to Legislation / 26

Introduction

Promoting regular school attendance is a key component in the Government’s strategy to raise educational standards.

A good school attendance policy will emphasise the responsibility that all school staff, parents/carers, students and the local community have for promoting regular attendance and the fundamental contribution that this makes to learning and achievement.

A School Attendance Policy should:

  • Focus upon raising achievement by improving attendance
  • Set out the requirements and expectations for school attendance and specify the details of a culture in which good attendance is valued
  • Set out the formal procedures and clarify the actions which will achieve this in a way that staff, students and parents/carers will understand.
  • Specify the approaches, incentives and sanctions that will be used to support the school’s formal procedures
  • Value the individual and be socially and educationally inclusive
  • Specify how the school’s monitoring procedures will inform its attendance action planning.

Benefits of a School Attendance Policy:

  • Clear guidance to staff, students and parents/carers ensures that everyone involved in school attendance is aware of the procedures and their responsibility to make them work.
  • Clear procedures contribute to the smooth running of the school
  • Shows that the school cares that pupils attend
  • Supports improved learning and achievement
  • Improved attendance enables pupils to gain maximum benefit from their education, including improvement in social skills
  • Updated policy is available when OfSTED inspects

Who is going to write the policy?

If the whole school owns the policy, attendance is more likely to improve. It can best be produced by a group including representatives of the parties involved in dealing with day-to-day attendance issues e.g.

  • A year head or head of house
  • A form teacher
  • An Attendance Improvement Officer (AIO)
  • A parent/carer
  • A pupil representative
  • A governor
  • An administrator
  • Behaviour and Attendance Consultant
  • Member of Senior Leadership Team

Where is support available?

Support is available in developing an Attendance Policy from an Attendance Improvement Officer. Other useful information can be found at:

– Click on ‘Behaviour, Attendance and SEAL’, then ‘Attendance’

Provides information on improving attendance and reducing persistent absence

Direct access to regulations and guidance on attendance issues including:

  • Absence Data – Absence and Attendance Codes January 2009
  • Improving Attendance – an Audit Tool for Registration Inspection
  • Keeping Pupil Registers – guidance on applying the Education Pupil Registration Regulations
  • Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006
  • Outline of the 2006 Pupil Registration Regulations
  • The EducationSchool Attendance Targets England Regulations 2007
  • Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2010

Attendance Publications including:

  • Is your child missing out? School attendance: Information for parents (revised edition 2007)
  • Young people’s leaflet on attendance – Going to School (Primary focus)
  • Trevor's dilemma: Young people's leaflet on attendance (Secondary focus)
  • Samena's nightmare: Young people's leaflet on attendance (Secondary focus)
  • Don’t make them miss out – a set of four posters highlighting non-attendance
  • OFSTED’s guidance for inspectors of schools: conducting the inspection

Children Missing from Education Guidance and Referral form (CSF4706)

Guidance to schools on procedures for pupils who join and leave a school’s admission roll including pupils who go missing (CSF4533)

This area of the OFSTED website gives access to zip files. It provides the latest guidance to inspectors on inspecting attendance.

This is a letter from Hertfordshire’s Chief Education Officer which can be sent to parents if they request a holiday in term time.

Schools may find it helpful to base their own attendance policy on the model shown below, using the suggested wording or creating their own. Not all the suggestions for policy will be appropriate for your school, options are given in some cases and there will be other policies which you would want to include. The question columns and the paragraphs in italics are to assist schools to ensure that each detail has been considered and included in the policy.

A summary of the policy should be included in the School Brochure and Information for New Parents.

ModelSchool Attendance Policy

Initial Statement

Examples:

At……………………. School, we want the whole school community – governors, staff, parents and pupils to be committed to high standards of attendance and punctuality.

Good attendance helps the children in this school community to maximise their learning. This policy will support us all to achieve high levels of attendance and punctuality.

………………… School aims to encourage and assist all pupils to achieve excellent levels of attendance and punctuality.

………………… School aims to encourage excellent levels of attendance and punctuality to enable all pupils to take full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them.

…………………School aims to reduce Persistent Absence in order that all pupils are assisted in reaching their potential.

………………….School believes that good school attendance assists children and young people to achieve the following 5 outcomes:

  • To be healthy
  • To stay safe
  • To enjoy and achieve
  • To make a positive contribution
  • To achieve economic well-being

Schools may also wish to add the legal requirement for attendance at school:

Section 7 of Education Act 1996 states

Duty of parents to secure education of children of compulsory school age.

E+W

The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable—

(a)to his age, ability and aptitude, and

(b)to any special educational needs he may have,either by regular attendance at school or otherwise

Target Setting/Monitoring

In November 2010, the Department for Education issued the following information to schools and local authorities about attendance targets from Summer 2012. Schools may wish to paraphrase this and include all or part of it in their Attendance Policy.

‘Local authorities and schools should note they are no longer required to set targets for persistent absence and overall attendance respectively and the regulations will be amended accordingly. The Department however remains firmly of the view that unnecessary absence is unacceptable and must be prevented and tackled by schools.

The Department therefore expects all schools and local authorities to continue focusing on reducing overall absence, particularly unauthorised absence and persistent absence. Absence will continue to be monitored closely via the pupil level school census and the Secretary of State’s power to require an individual school to set absence targets where a school’s absence record is of particular concern is being retained.’

A new inspection framework for maintained schools and academies will be introduced in January 2012. The quality of teaching and learning judgement relates to attendance because, however good the teaching, it does not benefit pupils if they are not present.

Expectations

The responsibility for good attendance is shared between school, parents and pupils. All these groups need to understand the expectations which the policy makes of them.

The expectations for school may include:

……………………….. School will provide a safe learning environment / All – how?
The school will ensure that records of attendance are maintained according to Government legislation and guidance on a daily basis / Who?
………………………...School will encourage good attendance and will investigate all unexplained and unjustified absence / Who?
How?
………………………...School staff will set a good example in matters of attendance and punctuality / All
………………. ……….School will follow up all instances of poor attendance and punctuality / Who?
How?
……………………….. School will keep parents informed of their child’s attendance/punctuality record / Who?
How?
…………………………School will work closely with parents should attendance or punctuality give cause for concern / Who? When?

The expectations for parents may include:

Parents are legally responsible for ensuring their child’s regular and punctual attendance
Parents are expected to ensure that their child attends school regularly, punctually, properly dressed and equipped and in a fit condition to learn
Parents will inform school on the first day of absence, of the reason for their child’s absence from school / How?
Parents will avoid arranging family holidays during term time
Parents will maintain regular communication with school staff where necessary / How?
Parents will ensure that school are informed of any changes of contact details / How?

The expectations for pupils may include:

All pupils are expected to attend school and all of their lessons regularly and punctually
Pupils must remember to hand any note giving reasons for absence to the relevant person / To whom?
Pupils are expected to be ready to learn
Pupils will not leave the school without permission / Who gives permission?

Schools may like to include information on the following aspects:

Doors open

  • Breakfast Club opens at ………………………………
  • School doors open at ……………………… am. Pupils may enter the building at that time. Pupils should not arrive at school before………………….

Registration

  • Registers are called at …..am and …….pm. Registers close at ………….am and ………….pm. Registers are marked consistently by staff.
  • Any pupil arriving after closure of the register will be marked absent for the whole of the session
  • Pupils should be called by name and respond in the prescribed formal manner – ‘here’, ‘present’ etc.
  • All staff will take a register in each lesson
  • Registers will be marked in accordance with DfE guidance. See Absence and Attendance Codes January 2009, Appendix A

Lateness

Any pupil arriving after …….am or ……. pm should report to …………………… / Whom?
Any pupil arriving after …….am or ……..pm should sign the late book / Where?
Any pupil arriving after …….am or ……..pm will be supervised when signing the late book / By whom?
Entries in the late book will be transferred to the computerised registration system / By whom?
When?

If a pupil has arrived late in school and a fire breaks out, is it clear to anyone taking a

register that they are present?

Are there any circumstances in which a school will authorise a late arrival after the

registers have closed e.g bad weather, road closure?

Following up Lateness

The names of pupils who arrive late will be given to …………………….. / Whom?
If a child has more than ……… late arrivals in ………..(period) they will be expected to ……………….. (sanction) / How many? How long? Sanction?
…………………………. will have responsibility for collating lists of pupils arriving late on whom sanctions will be imposed / Who?
……………………………will have responsibility for advising pupils that they are being sanctioned / Who?
The sanction for lates will be imposed on the same day/the following day/at lunchtime / When?
Parents will be informed of the sanction imposed by ……………. / By whom? How?
When?
If a pupil does not attend a late detention, there will be a further sanction of …………….. / By whom?
What?
When?
Parents will be informed of the further sanction imposed by……………….. / By whom? How?
When?
Parents whose children are regularly late for school, will be contacted by a member of school staff who will work with the parent(s) to bring about an improvement in punctuality. / By whom?

Absences

Parents must provide an explanation for all absences from school. / In what form?
Designated school staff will decide whether to accept the reason given and to authorise the absence. It is the school and not the parent who authorise absence / Who?
Absence from school may be authorised if it is for the following reasons:
  • Sickness
  • Unavoidable medical/ dental appointments (though these should be made, whenever possible, outside school hours
  • Days of religious observance
  • Exceptional family circumstances such as bereavement

From whom will the school accept reasons? – older sibling, relative

What form of notification is the school prepared to accept? - telephone, letter, e-mail

Who should the notification be given to? – attendance co-ordinator/officer, Head of Year,

form teacher

Where should the notification be stored? – register, class file, pupil file

How long is the notification stored for?

For what reasons will the school authorise absence?

  • Older siblings graduation
  • Music or dance exams
  • Moving house

For what reasons will the school not authorise absence?

  • Shopping
  • Looking after siblings or parents who are unwell
  • Birthdays
  • Holidays in term time, requested after the event
  • Funeral of distant relative involving more than one day of absence
  • Pet going to the Vet / Death

If there is any doubt about whether an absence should be authorised, who makes this

decision?

Who would make the decision to unauthorise absence, and then inform parents?

Following up Absences

………………………………… School follows up all absences from school
If no reason has been provided for a pupil’s absence by ……..am on the first day of absence, a parent of the pupil will be contacted / How?
By whom?
If no reason has been provided for a pupil’s absence after 3 consecutive days, a letter will be sent to the parent of the pupil / By whom?
How identified?
If a pupil returns to school after an absence without a written explanation from his/her parent and this has still not been received within ……..days, a letter requesting this will be sent to his/her parents / How long?
By whom?
Parents whose children have more than ……% absence from school in a period of ………………, will be contacted by a member of school staff who will work with the parent(s) to bring about an improvement in attendance. / %? What period? By whom?
Pupils whose attendance is less than …..% will have an allocated mentor, an Action Plan and regular reviews of attendance until they have reached their target attendance / %? How identified?
Who? When?
If the pupil’s attendance does not improve sufficiently, the pupil will be referred to the Attendance Improvement Officer / By whom?

Is there an escalation of involvement by school staff depending on the level of

Attendance? Does this take the form of standard letters, meetings etc?

Is there a mechanism for alerting other professionals involved – Social Worker, Targeted

Youth Support, ESC Outreach?

How is a pupil supported when they return after long term absence – buddy to help with

settling them back in, teachers alerted, time with class teacher to go over essential topics

Who is responsible for making a referral to Education Support Team for Medical Absence

(ESTMA) when a pupil is likely to be absent for a long time due to illness?

Who is responsible for completing EWN1 to make Attendance and Pupil Support aware

that a pupil has been taken off roll?

Leaving and returning to School during School Day

Pupils/parents must notify school staff if the pupil leaves the school site during the school day / How?
Pupils must provide an appointment card or a letter from their parent/carer requesting that they be allowed to leave school. They must show this to ………………….. / To whom?
Pupils should sign out of school / Where? How?
Pupils must sign back into school on their return / Where? How?
The signing in and out record will be the responsibility of ……………………. in the event of fire / Whom?

Are pupils/parents given a pass to show to a representative of the LA or Police Officer

on request?

Truancy

Primary Schools may decide not to include a section on truancy.

...... School works with parents, pupils and staff to reduce truancy during the school day by
  • Issuing lunch passes
  • Staff monitoring exit points
  • Searching places where truants are known to hide e.g toilets, bike sheds
/ Who? In what circumst-ances?
Who? When?
…………………School registers pupils in each lesson as well as during registration. If pupils are found to be missing, parents will be informed / By whom?
How?
………………… School operates spot checks on attendance in lessons during the school day / By whom? How?
………………….School works with other professionals to minimise truancy e.g. police and Attendance Improvement Officers carrying out truancy patrols / How?

First Day Response

………………….. School uses First Day Response for all pupils/targeted groups / Which group?
First Day Response phone calls will be made after ………. / What time?
The target group for First Day Response will change according to current attendance, year group etc. / How?
Who?
When?
First Day Response phone calls will be triggered by………………………. / Informa-tion from?
When?
First Day Response phone calls will be made by ………………………… (name of post) / By whom?
……………………………….. is responsible for deciding whether to authorise absences notified through First Day Response / Who?
The telephone contact list will be updated by……………………… / By whom? How?
Registers will be updated with First Day Response information by …………….. / By whom?
When?
……………………….. is responsible for ensuring the quality and consistency of First Day Response calls? e.g. are they challenging? / Who? How?

Term Time Holidays – see Appendix B for more detail

……...... School will not authorise family holidays during term time except in exceptional circumstances / How?
Parents must request a family holiday during term time using ……………….. / How?
Family holidays must be requested ………………………. in advance / How long?
A retrospective request for authorisation of a family holiday in term time will not be granted
……………………… School treats all requests in the same way, using the Holiday Authorisation Calculation Chart – Appendix B / Who?
……………………… School interviews parents requesting family holidays in term time / Who?
During SATS, exam periods and the first two weeks of the school year, term time holidays will not be authorised

How are parents made aware of the school ethos regarding Term Time Holidays?