Thread by @ChrisWardle77

Attendance Matters

It's vital. I've led in 4 high schools each demonstrating yr on yr improved att. During 1 tr att imp by 1.2% comparatively with the previous yr. I've put some thoughts together. I hope you find it useful and that this helps your attendance intervention:-

Patterns of absence can be evident but often absence is sporadic. One thing I have noted is that with some families a Wed absence can snowball into a Thurs and Fri. How do you combat culture?

1) Attendance is driven from the top. It's a safeguarding priority. Leaders need to know the daily attendance and prioritise actions that day. Leaving analysis until a Friday for a Monday blitz is 5 days too late.

2) It's a collective responsibility but key people are essential. You need the super duper attendance officer. The person that crunches the figures in a heartbeat. The person that can send information to other key people on yr group/gender/pp/send...BOOM 👍

3) Invest and train people within attendance. Depending on your staff structure, key people should be over year groups or vertical groups. It's essential that they search for patterns then deploy actions to raise attendance....that day. RAGing pupils is a BIG ✅

4) The more well trained people you have in att, the better. E.g.a well trained tutor can be vital to the att of their form. Great relationships with parents/carers can help shift att. Getting communication on the day of absence from a form tutor can have HUGE impact.

5) Know your historical data. A leopard doesn't change their spots. If cumulative attendance for pupil X was 95% the yr before. You can almost bank it'll be similar at the end of that yr.

6) Know your yr 6 cumulative figures for the reasons stated in point 5. You can start interventions immediately. You can make a preemptive list of your 96-100% grp; 92-95.9% group etc.

7) Gather information from your feeder primaries. They have worked with families for up to 7 yrs. They will know everything and most importantly what works for specific families...priceless info yet often overlooked.

8) Knowing your families is essential...who responds to letters? Who responds to phone calls? Who responds to a knock on the door? Who responds to rewards? Who doesn't respond? RAG the families and make notes on what makes them get on side.

9) Track data cumulatively and weekly. If you have data from the year before and the year before that, use it! Graph it for whole school pp/nonpp against national and divide it into yr groups.

10) E.g. Place cumulative data of yr7 for 17-18 onto a graph with yr8 18-19 then track the attendance of that current cohort in Yr10 of 19-20. You can do this for weekly attendance too. It will provide a treasure trove and there WILL be patterns.

11) Point 10 will help you be proactive where you may see a dip in PP attendance on week 15 in 2018-19. Who were these pupils? Why were they absent? What measures will you put in place to make sure there isn't a repeat? Be proactive and NOT reactive.

12) A reason for point 11 could be that feeder primary Christmas holidays didn't marry up. Primary has broken up on the Wed and you're in until the Friday. Nightmare. Often families rely on older siblings to look after their younger children..hence day off and att hit!

13) 95% is key. Often sch start to put in interventions below 95%. The rot has set in by then. I recommend that you're all over attendance as soon as it dips below 100%. Let families know from day 1 that you mean business. A bespoke initiative for all. Below 95 and it's a fight.

14) My child was off sick. I asked my wife had she phoned school, she hadn't. I called at 15:30. The school had not contacted us to ask where she was. Something awful could have happened and a whole day had passed.

15) 100% of the schools I've worked in, disadvantaged att is sig below non dis. If dis have a good day in att, whole school has a good day. Therefore, I know that disadvantaged boys in Yr8 are a key group for eg. What are you doing? Intervention is key.

16) Find out why att is an issue...ASK THE PUPILS. ASK THE FAMILIES. TRACK THEIR TT. COMMUNICATE WITH TUTOR/HOY ETC. DIG DIG DIG.

17) Microscript interventions..phone call 1/2/3 all staff say the same..letter 1/2/3 ensure letters are supportive. Ensure letter leads to face to face scripted meetings. Door knock - ensure what's said is scripted and rehearsed and staff are safeguarded..microscript it.

17ctd) I have found a phone call is 50% effective. Door knock 66% effective. Letters without meetings - negligible impact....with meetings 80% impact.

18) Whole school interventions....18a) know your feeder primary holiday pattern. NOTE HOTSPOTS. Speak to Head of primary to remind parents that although they are absent on the wed it's imperative older siblings attend until the Friday...work together.

18b) build in interventions to mitigate against primary holiday patterns...get schools talking to schools...MATs talking to MATs and agree holiday patterns, a collegiate approach. The community will thank you and you'll mitigate att hits.

18c) Focus on positive messages on attendance and NEVER be punitive on children re: attendance NOT ALLOWED. Ensure staff NEVER say, look what the cat dragged in,' which I've heard...or, 'I've forgotten who you are it's been so long.' No good comes of this.

18d) Get to GREEN. Each form gets a list on a Mon. It's a list of names and cumu att from 2 wks prior compared to the previous week i.e. name, column 1 cumu att 2 wks ago; column 2 cumu att previous week; column 3 colour box..Green if column 2 is higher than 1. No colour if not.

18dctd) That way, pupils whatever stage even if att is 80%, they can still get to green the following week.

18e) Some don't like att reward initiatives...I do and they work. Where you've identified strategic att pinch points set up a 10 day challenge...100% att over those 10 days the pupil goes into a drawer.

18ectd) Prize often good if it involves family e.g. £50 hamper esp great prior to Christmas. You must advertise heavily 2 wks prior to launch and ensure parents know...this is where the battle is won...at the child's home.

18ectd) I've found 10 day challenges impact PP but not nonPP. I've also found 15 day..20 day+ challenges to be less effective.

19) Attendance/reward assemblies are great. I have a whole microscript for these but in essence children rewarded at the end of half term/term for attendance but its EXCITING.

20) Pupil Welfare Officer - a great one is dynamite. Work closely with them, it's worth a full time one if you can budget. They will work tirelessly to drive those below 90% back north. They also often have HUGE wealth of knowledge about families.

21) PCSO...these were instrumental...they were cheap but can provide valuable assistance at evenings and weekends doing attendance checks and safeguarding checks. They also demonstrate great community partnerships.

There's a lot more to add but I might do this in Attendance Matters 2.