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

Thursday

10th Oct 2024

Longer school days improve students’ grades - sort of
The author of a study showing that pupils in schools with longer days perform better outlines his key findings, but says further research is needed into how additional hours are being spent
School bell with cobwebs

Tuesday

8th Oct 2024

Attendance: 32,000 pupils on part-time timetables
There has been a ‘notable’ drop in schools’ use of the controversial attendance code B for pupils who are learning off-site, new analysis shows
Attendance: 32,000 pupils on part-time timetables

Monday

7th Oct 2024

Reading: concern over rise in Year 5 ‘low attainers’
Major study into impact of lockdowns also finds the disadvantage gap has not narrowed among Year 5 pupils in reading or maths
Low attainment
My week as...chief standards officer at City of London Academies Trust
In our ‘My Week As’ series, a senior sector leader reveals what a typical week looks like in their role. Here, we talk to Mouhssin Ismail
My week as... chief standards officer at City of London Academies Trust

Friday

4th Oct 2024

Scale of attendance issue requires a sector-wide approach
The chair of a new cross-sector commission on attendance explains why actionable insights will be at the heart of its work
Scale of attendance issue requires a sector-wide approach

Thursday

3rd Oct 2024

Restore expert group to tackle absence crisis, DfE urged
The Attendance Action Alliance – set up to ‘supercharge’ efforts to tackle school absence – has not met since May
Scrabble absence
Exclusive

Tuesday

24th Sep 2024

How we’re improving attendance and behaviour with additional roles
Thinking beyond traditional student roles has enabled our school to make remarkable improvements to engagement, writes this executive headteacher
How we’re improving attendance and behaviour with additional roles

Thursday

19th Sep 2024

5 practical steps our school took to boost attendance
From data analysis to minibus pickups, a principal explains how her school boosted attendance to over 90%
5 practical steps our school took to boost attendance

Monday

9th Sep 2024

Scotland’s primary school attendance crisis - and what to do about it
Falling attendance in primary schools has serious implications for the education sector as a whole, warns primary principal teacher Tom Mackenzie-Chalmers
Scottish absence

Friday

6th Sep 2024

Higher absence ‘will remain until Covid generation leaves school’
The ‘shock’ caused by restrictions introduced during the pandemic in 2020 could take ‘seven years to erode’, researchers warn
Covid generation attendance

Thursday

5th Sep 2024

Absence during school transition ‘is especially harmful’
New research warns against focusing only on chronic or persistent pupil absence, saying that moderate absences ‘accumulate over time and significantly impact achievement’
Absence during transition to secondary ‘especially harmful’, finds new research
SEND: New attendance rules are unfair on vulnerable students
The government’s focus on improving attendance is understandable, but the blunt approach risks alienating those most in need, warns Margaret Mulholland
SEND: The new attendance rules are unfair on vulnerable students