Leadership
Addressing the Department for Education’s Guidance on ‘Working Together to Improve Attendance’
Turn the DfE's attendance guidance into a clear list of what your school needs to do, from the policy wording to the weekly data.
- 1 hour 4 minutes
- Recorded webinar
- 1 CPD hour
- Certificate
Members
14 days free, then £70 a year or £7 a month.
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What you'll learn
- Check your attendance policy against what the guidance says it should contain
- Tell parents about absence in hours missed, not headline percentages
- Use weekly attendance data to act before poor attendance becomes a habit
- Know what support your local authority should provide free of charge
- Recognise when absence is a safeguarding concern, including educational neglect
About this course
Working Together to Improve School Attendance sets out what schools, trusts and local authorities are expected to do. It's a long document, and the question most schools want answered is simpler: what does it mean for us?
You'll know what the school's part asks for. A whole-school culture that values attendance. A policy that names a senior attendance lead and tells parents who to contact. Registers kept accurately, attendance data looked at every week, and families helped to remove the barriers in their way. You'll also know what your local authority should offer free of charge, such as targeting support meetings.
It's taught from a safeguarding point of view, so poor attendance is treated as the safeguarding issue it often is. That includes educational neglect, why rewards for good attendance can leave out the children you most want to reach, and the 90 to 95% group that's easy to overlook.
- For early career teachers, governors and 5 other roles. All phases.
Recording
Open in order
- 4 min
Introduction – Addressing the DfE Guidance
- 7 min
Suggested Approach
- 7 min
Develop and Maintain a Whole School Culture
- 7 min
Have a Clear School Attendance Policy
- 5 min
Accurately Complete Admissions
- 4 min
Regularly Monitor and Analyse Attendance and Absence Data
- 7 min
Build Strong Relationships with Families
- 4 min
Share Information and Work Collaboratively
- 5 min
Local Authority Responsibilities
- 4 min
Attendance and Vulnerability – The Chicken and The Egg
- 2 min
Educational Neglect
- 3 min
‘We have lots of rewards in place for good attendance’
- 2 min
Ideas for Analysis
- 2 min
Overarching Points
- 9 min
Q&A