Attendance

Why school attendance matters

Regular school attendance is an important part of giving children the best possible start in life. The aim should be to attend 100% of the time.

Research shows that pupils who attend school regularly achieve at higher levels than those who do not attend regularly, and they also have wider life chances.

Attending school on a regular basis also helps to develop:

• Friendships
• Social skills
• Life skills
• Career pathways

Missed days in school can have a significant impact on all the above.

Parents and carers have a legal duty to ensure that their children of compulsory school age receive a suitable full-time education. It is also vital that they encourage their child's regular and punctual attendance at school. If a child is registered at a school then it is vital that they attend on a regular basis.

What are we doing in Coventry

The barriers to accessing education are far reaching and complex and do not solely begin and end with the school. Often these barriers extend further than school and are specific to individual pupils and their families.

With our One Coventry approach we will work alongside and in partnership with schools and services across Coventry to ensure all pupils are supported to be able to attend school and will work to remove the barriers to school attendance.

Good attendance is not something to be viewed in isolation and it is the role of all involved to work with and support pupils and their families as a collective.

Our key stakeholders in Coventry are

• Pupils and their families
• School Attendance Team
• Schools
• SEND
• Early Help
• Virtual School
• Social Care
• Health

Successfully treating the root causes of absence and removing barriers to attendance, at home, in school or more broadly requires schools and local partners to work collaboratively with, not against families.

All partners should work together to:

• Expect  - Aspire to high standards of attendance from all pupils and parents and build a culture where all can, and want to, be in school and ready to learn by prioritising attendance improvement across the school.
• Monitor  - Rigorously use attendance data to identify patterns of poor attendance (at individual and cohort level) as soon as possible so all parties can work together to resolve them before they become entrenched.
• Listen and understand  - When a pattern is spotted, discuss with pupils and parents to listen to and understand barriers to attendance and agree how all partners can work together to resolve them.
• Facilitate support  - Remove barriers in school and help pupils and parents to access the support they need to overcome the barriers outside of school. This might include an early help or whole family plan where absence is a symptom of wider issues.
• Formalise support  - Where absence persists and voluntary support is not working or not being engaged with, partners should work together to explain the consequences clearly and ensure support is also in place to enable families to respond. Depending on the circumstances this may include formalising support through an attendance contract or education supervision order.
• Enforce  - Where all other avenues have been exhausted and support is not working or not being engaged with, enforce attendance through statutory intervention: a penalty notice in line with the National Framework or prosecution to protect the pupil’s right to an education.

How are we delivering attendance support in Coventry

Coventry’s Staged Intervention model works to support schools, pupils and families to secure the right help at the right time.

Schools will provide a named Senior Attendance Champion who will act as the main point of contact for the named Local Authority Attendance Officer (LAAO). Schools will also be provided with a named Early Help Assessment Coordinator (EHAC).

Schools should seek support from Social Care if the child is known to be under a Child Protection plan or Child in Need plan. School attendance should inform part of the plan and social workers would be expected to be involved in any concerns raised around school attendance where they are already involved.

For further details on our staged intervention model please see the School Attendance Matters document. 

Policies and guidance