top of page
Attendance Strategy

Improving attendance is everybody’s business

Our Vision and Values

Aspirations Soar, Kindness Shines, Everyone Belongs

In order for all pupils to realise the vision that we hold for their education, they need to be in school accessing a high-quality education at all times.  

​

Our Wath Victoria values of Ready, Respectful, Safe and our vision of Aspirations Soar, Kindness Shines and Everyone Belongs thread through everything we do at Wath Victoria Primary School, including pupil attendance. This supports us to build a culture that promotes the benefits of good attendance: 

Aspirations

Soar

We want all pupils at Wath Victoria Primary School to leave us with high aspirations for their future. Our curriculum and personal development strategy are built to develop this aspirational stance and expose the positive impact that good attendance will have on the reality of them fulfilling their dreams.  

Good attendance is essential to ensure that pupils get the most out of their school experience, including attaining academically, achieving the Character building skills of teamwork, communication, curiosity, empathy and problem solving. Good attendance ultimately provides the pupils with the best possible outcomes and life chances. It is statistically clear that the pupils with the highest attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 have higher rates of attendance compared to those with the lowest attainment.  

Kindness

Shines

We recognise that mental and physical wellbeing and good relationships are significant drivers in school absence. We therefore ensure we prioritise these factors in both our school curriculum and responses to repeated absences. In order to ensure that children feel confident and safe in school we ensure the school is a kind, calm, welcoming environment with  strong relationships for all pupils and their families.   

Everyone

Belongs

Everyone has the right to feel a sense of belonging at our school. We ensure that the school environment, curriculum and ethos are representative and inclusive of all pupils at Wath Victoria Primary School. Pupils who feel as though they belong, are more likely to want to attend.  We recognise that some pupils find it harder to attend school than others therefore all staff prioritise building positive relationships with all pupils and their families, proactively finding relational moments with an open heart ready to empathise, care and support.  The diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging team ensure that we know each and every pupil as individuals and remain professionally curious as to what the individual barriers our pupils and their families face, providing the right support at the right time.  

The Law

The law in the UK entitles every child of compulsory school age to an efficient, full-time education suitable to their age, aptitude, and any special educational need they may have.

 

Where parents decide to have their child registered at school, they have an additional legal duty to ensure their child attends that school regularly. This means their child must attend every day that the school is open, except in a small number of allowable circumstances such as being too ill to attend or being given permission for an absence in advance from the school.

The Impact of Poor Attendance

1.png

The Impact of Lateness

2.png

Our School Approach

Our school approach is written in conjunction with the DFE ‘Working together to improve school attendance’. We work together with partners to ensure that we have the right culture in school to promote good attendance alongside the right support being offered at the right time to enable pupils to fully access education.   

​

We recognise that the barriers to accessing education are wide and complex and therefore remain professionally curious at all times, seeking to expose the barrier or barriers to school attendance. We build strong relationships with our families ensuring that they know we are a source of support at all times, we are approachable and that we genuinely want to achieve the very best for their children.  

​

Below explains our school strategy: 

Expect

Monitor

Listen and Understand

Facilitate Support

Formalise Support

  • Our school attendance policy sets out the clear expectations of the school with regard to parents, this includes ensuring school is informed of absence via a telephone call on each day of absence. 

  •  All staff are familiar with the policy and our expectations and the contents of the policy are communicated to parents and pupils in an appropriate way. 

  • School attendance expectations are set at admissions meetings. 

  • Attendance expectations are reinforced at transition.  

  • Attendance forms part of parent meetings and our expectations are set out clearly. 

  • We have a colour coding system in school which is displayed in classes, the entrance hall and on newsletters so that stakeholders are clear of the level of attendance expected. 

  • The impact of lateness posters are displayed in school. 

  • Attendance data alongside our expectations are included on annual, formal school reports. 

  • Attendance expectations are shared with governors within Head Teacher reports. 

  • Class Teachers talk to their pupils about the importance of attendance regularly. 

  • All winning class attendance is displayed in the classrooms to promote good attendance 

  • The focus for celebration is on classes rather than individuals to ensure that pupils do not feel unnecessary pressure in unavoidable circumstances. Where there are long term individual circumstances in a single class, this is taken into account as part of the weekly celebration 

  • Attendance data is communicated weekly with parents on Dojo 

  • All families are regularly reminded that term time holidays are not authorised under any circumstances and that holidays taken in term time may be referred to the Local Authority for a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) 

  • All families are aware that a leave of absence request needs to be submitted for any planned absence from school 

  • First day calls are made where a child has not attended; this reinforces our expectation that children should be in school, acts in line with our safeguarding policy and is a first step in supporting families with attendance 

  • Attendance is tracked on an individual basis. Any pupil who does not have attendance levels of 96% or more at the end of each half term is discussed by the parent support worker and Headteacher and appropriate actions are agreed and tracked for impact 

  • Half termly attendance percentages are sent to families informing them of their child’s attendance level and any actions required 

  • Adapted letters are sent to those families who are already working with school on a regular basis (e.g. children with a temporary long term illness, a partial timetable or a specific medical plan) to inform them of their child’s attendance 

  • Attendance is monitored at each pupil progress meeting when discussing barriers to pupil progress and is also included on all SEND review paperwork 

  • Communication is sent to families half termly where attendance has significantly improved  

  • Each pupil is tracked across the year so that patterns can be monitored carefully.  

  • Pupils who end the year being monitored for attendance become a focus family for the start of the new year. These pupils’ attendance will be monitored more closely and these families will be prioritised for support.  

  • Pupils whose attendance is below 96%  are monitored more closely and dips in attendance between monitoring points results in a school attendance discussion. Action is then decided based on the known circumstances. This is also discussed with families. These families are prioritised for support.  

  • Attendance is tracked by year group and contextual factors (e.g. Pupil Premium) each half term, so that the parent support worker can monitor their levels of attendance and pursue enquiries and investigations for underperforming groups.  

  • Staff are professionally curious, looking for patterns of absence to highlight to the parent support worker and senior leadership  

  • Lateness is monitored to identify families who are frequently late and may require additional support.  

  • RecordMy is used to record any discussions about attendance with families or professionals. 

  • There is an attendance team made up of:

image.png

  •  Our Receptionist is a parent’s first point of contact when discussing their child’s attendance, including as first day caller. Her warm and supportive manner ensures families know we want to help them in ensuring their children attend well at school.

  • It is made clear on all communications about attendance that that aim of our systems are to support and empower families, rather than punish.

  • When a pupil’s attendance is identified as a concern by the attendance team, the relevant communication is shared with emphasis on supportive practice. At every step of monitoring attendance, families are made aware that they can speak to school.

  • Where attendance requires a formal attendance meeting (below 92%), our parent support champion meets with families to discuss barriers, ways to support and ensures school have all the relevant information. This is recorded in the form of an Attendance Contract, signed by both parties and revisited the following half term.

  • As a school we continually look to employ supportive strategies and techniques to improve pupil attendance.

  • The strategies and techniques and increase or decrease in significance as the child or family needs more or less informal support.

  • As a school we continually look to employ supportive strategies and techniques to improve pupil attendance.

  • The strategies and techniques and increase or decrease in significance as the child or family needs more or less informal support.

Tier Support.png

Tier 1

Universal 

Support

Tier 2 Targeted support for groups

Tier 3 Support is used for individual pupils

  • Regular communication with parents verbally, via Dojo, text and email 

  • Clear expectations shared throughout the year 

  • Parents to inform school of the reason for absence or lateness  

  • Attendance Meetings  

  • Regular attendance communication on Dojo  

  • Weekly Attendance Celebration in assembly 

  • Attendance included at parents’ meetings, SEND reviews and on end of year reports 

  • An onsite parent support worker 

  • Key person welcome  

  • Adaptive start/finish times 

  • Priority list of morning calls where absence has not been reported by parents 

  • Breakfast offering  

  • Change of entry point/routine  

  • Focused morning activities 

  • Attendance contracts 

  • Liaison with/referral to external agencies where required (Aspire, CAMHS, School Nurse) 

  • Further liaison with/referral to external agencies where required (Aspire, CAMHS, School Nurse) 

  • Separate entrance point/start time 

  • Soft start activities for the day with a member of staff 

  • Parenting courses  

  • Temporary part time timetables 

  • Bespoke SEND provision  

  • Visual timetables 

  • Reward charts 

  • School based early help 

  • Adapted attendance contracts 

  • Next step identified as formal pathway (LA)  

Tier 4 Formalised Support

Tier 4 is formalised support, where Tier 1-3 school based support has been ineffective 

  • School begins to issue attendance pathway letter 1 and letter 2 to reinforce the severity of the situation. 

  • School seek support from the Local Authority Attendance Team. 

  • Referral to Early Help (with consent)  

  • Attendance below 50% - refer to MASH.  

Enforce

  • Formalised support continues throughout this stage. 

  • Weekly attendance reviews. 

  • Pathway letter 3 including a FPN is issued.  

  • Following FPN, should attendance fail to improve, attendance pathway letters 2 and 3 are issued again and school seek to take a case to the Local Authority School Attendance Panel (LASAP) to seek an education supervision order. 

bottom of page