Attendance

The latest news and professional advice on school attendance, including analysis of attendance data and shared practice on tackling pupil absence and internal truancy

Yesterday

20th Dec 2024

Why you can’t separate attendance from mental health and SEND
To improve attendance, schools need to understand how it interacts with mental health and SEND and build systems of support accordingly, argues Professor Tamsin Ford
Attendance, SEND and mental health: a complex interplay
New inquiry will seek solutions to SEND crisis
MPs will look at inclusion in mainstream schools, funding and alternatives to the EHCP system ‘without reducing support’
Inquiry set up to find solutions to the SEND crisis

Thursday

12th Dec 2024

Big rise in children missing education, DfE data shows
Meanwhile, separate DfE statistics show a sharp increase in children who are in elective home education
Big rise in children missing education, DfE data shows

Tuesday

10th Dec 2024

High rates of persistent pupil absence in Scottish schools
School attendance data shows slight improvement in persistent absence rates, but they remain at high levels compared with pre-Covid years
High rates of persistent pupil absence in Scottish schools

Wednesday

4th Dec 2024

Attendance: How England compares with the rest of the world
The latest Timss report includes data on school absence from 65 nations globally. Ellen Peirson-Hagger looks at where England ranks
Different chairs of the world
More than 300,000 children ‘missing from education’
The government should expand its plan for a not-in-school register to ensure that vulnerable children don’t ‘fall through the cracks’, says EPI report
More than 300,000 children missing from education system, experts warn

Wednesday

27th Nov 2024

Breakfast clubs: DfE urged not to repeat mistakes of NTP
The government needs to provide protected funding for breakfast clubs, ensure high-quality food standards and measure programme outcomes, says report
Labour has been urged to not to repeat mistakes of predecessors with breakfast club roll out.

Tuesday

26th Nov 2024

Absence fines regime ‘strengthens protections’ for SEND, says minister
Stephen Morgan also highlights schools moving to more flexible term times in debate on fines for unauthorised absence
Absence fines SEND

Thursday

21st Nov 2024

Using student leadership to tackle attendance
A headteacher explains how creating more opportunities for responsibility has been a driver in engaging pupils and boosting attendance at her school
Crowd of people

Wednesday

20th Nov 2024

Teachers face ‘alarming’ rise in verbal and physical abuse from pupils
Increase in challenging behaviour from children and parents is impacting teachers’ mental health and wellbeing, charity warns
Teachers face ‘alarming’ rise in verbal and physical abuse from pupils

Tuesday

19th Nov 2024

Teenage girls drive rise in truancy
An increase in truancy in English-speaking countries since Covid is being fuelled by girls skipping school, research shows
Truancy

Wednesday

13th Nov 2024

Youth club closures affected GCSE results, think tank warns
Headteachers’ leaders urge government to restore local authority funding for community services, or risk leaving schools to ‘pick up the pieces’
An IFS study has found that students in areas where youth clubs closed fared less well at GCSE.