Important changes to the Attendance Improvement Team
The below outlines the core offer from the Local Authority Attendance Support Team (previously the Education Welfare Service) which will become effective during the Autumn term.
Our Attendance Improvement Officers (AIO) will be working in Local Learning Communities.
Your school / setting will be provided with further information about this in September 2023, along with the contact details for your single point of contact (AIO).
The responsibility for tackling attendance is everyone’s responsibility however, the DfE have set out clear roles for schools, the LA, and parents.
The School’s responsibility is set out in Section 2 of Working together to improve school attendance (publishing.service.gov.uk)
All schools will have a named AIO allocated to a local learning community. Depending on the size of the LLC and demand for traded work there may be two AIO’s working in the same locality.
A core offer of the LA is to facilitate ‘Targeting Support Meetings’ (further information about these meetings can be found below).
From the Autumn Term we will be organising targeted support meetings with the following schools:
- All secondary schools
- Large primary schools (more than 350 pupils)
- Schools with under 90% overall attendance
Over the Autumn Term, we will transition the remaining schools so that we are ready for the guidance becoming statutory. The plan is for all schools and settings to receive targeting support meetings from January 2024.
Please be assured that if you require support and guidance, all schools will be allocated a named AIO you can contact. In addition to this, we have set up a booking system to a consultation line where you can book in a 30-minute appointment with a senior practitioner to seek further advise or guidance.
LA - Core Offer to Schools
Under the guidance Working together to improve school attendance (publishing.service.gov.uk), the Attendance Improvement Officer (AIO) will:
- Support and work with Devon schools on the early identification of emerging patterns of irregular pupil attendance, whilst paying particular attention to supporting our most vulnerable pupils
- Work together to agree a joint approach for severely absent pupils (50% and below) this may include specific support with attendance or a whole family plan
- Provide ad hoc advice, support and guidance via email or telephone
- Arrange a termly targeted support meeting for all Secondary Schools and large Primary Schools, see information on the targeted support meetings below.
- Have regular contact with smaller Primary Schools
- Advise the family’s lead practitioner on any attendance elements of a family’s attendance plan
- Give advice on legal intervention where all support processes have failed or where there has been non engagement and all parties agree this is the most appropriate course of action. See the range of legal interventions available below.
- Advice to schools about undertaking formal legal escalation meetings (formally fast track).
- Work to develop strategic policies and procedures in partnership with schools and other agencies to improve pupil attendance across the county.
This means that the Attendance Improvement Officers will no longer be able to visit schools on a regular basis (unless you have purchased additional time on the shop) to discuss attendance or be able to attend school-based meetings which are arranged to discuss and agree action plans in relation to individual pupil absence.
The AIO may attend to offer support to new members of school staff where structuring such meetings is an identified training need.
They will also provide:
- Traded service, see traded information below.
The purpose of this meeting is to work together as equal partners to:
- advise on the requirements for clear and transparent whole school attendance processes, policies and strategies which allow for the early identification of pupils with declining levels of attendance and ensure that supportive interventions are offered to enable pupils to return to regular, full-time attendance at school
- to ensure that all Devon schools and academies have access to the most up-to-date government advice and guidance in respect of coding of absence and attendance reporting requirements (e.g., census returns, attendance returns to the DfE, etc.)
- to share good practice in relation to strategies which may be used to address absence, with a view to minimising the need for schools to require legal intervention (penalty notices/prosecution) via the Education Act 1996
- to encourage schools to take a multi-agency approach to addressing absence and providing a signposting service to inform schools about any services, organisations and/or agencies that may be able to offer support in this aim
- to ensure there are attendance plans in place for all severely absent (less than 50%) pupils. Schools and AIO are expected to have agreed a joint approach for all severely absent pupils
- to scrutinise available data to identify emerging local patterns of positive attendance improvement and ‘hotspots,’ particularly around vulnerable groups, where attendance patterns appear to be declining, using this data to facilitate opportunities for schools to collaborate and network so that school-led improvement relationships may be formed, as appropriate
- to facilitate networking and training opportunities for Attendance Officers, Attendance Leads and Headteachers which seek to promote local and national good practice and allow colleagues to share successful strategies which have enabled them to overcome barriers to regular attendance for their pupils
- be available to provide advice to schools/parents in individual cases, by telephone
From September it will be the school’s responsibility to undertake formal meetings as it is not part of a core function of the local authority.
- A process, templates, including a full guide will be available on our website from September. It will also be e-mailed out to attendance leads. If your attendance officer is changes, it is important you provide us with up-to-date contact details, so you do not miss out on important information. You will be able to do this from the link below.
The AIO will be available to offer support and guidance to school staff where structuring such meetings is an identified training need.
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Legal intervention:
- Upon agreement between all parties working with the family, take forward attendance legal intervention (using the full range of parental responsibility measures) where voluntary support has not been successful or engaged with
- AIO will be available to provide advice and support with the process.
- Once schools have undertaken and can evidence all formal meetings have been held with the family, the AIO will be able to give advice around completing a referral direct to the Penalty Notice team.
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Including:
- Parenting contracts
- Education Supervision Orders
- Building attendance into child in need or child protection plans where relevant
- Issuing fixed penalty notices
- Parenting Orders
- Taking forward prosecutions persistently breaching any Education Supervision Order or Parenting Order in place
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To support you with your responsibility under section 2 of the DfE guidance, there will be a model attendance letter process for schools available for you to download from our website. Please be mindful that:
- This process is not statutory
- You do not have to follow the exact process however it helpful for ensuring you can evidence how you have addressed all possible barriers to attendance
- You can take out wording that you do not it feel is appropriate for your school, however it is suggested you do not change the wording around ‘medical evidence.’
- The action plan can be produced when working with families as it could be used as evidence in court. It also gives a good indication of whether an Education Supervision Order could be more appropriate.
Alongside the model letter process, there is also a range of documents on our website you may find useful:
- Holiday warning letter
- Sample letter encouraging good attendance
- Scripts for telephone calls
- DfE documents encouraging good attendance through parent messages
- Guide to school attendance meetings
- Sample Secondary pupil ‘return to school’ form
- Sample attendance tracker
- Restorative approach form when obtaining pupil voice around attendance
All forms will be available to download from our website from September 2023.
Updates will go out in the attendance newsletter so please subscribe to this if you haven’t already
From September there will be a range of other supporting documents you could utilise. Including:
- Tackling persistent absence including trigger points for escalation
- Data target setting and analysis
- School on page - Schools can use this for inform governing bodies of the present situation around attendance in the school if they wish
- School guidance and legislation
- A variety of sample posters encouraging good attendance
In the event you are unable to contact your named AIO, or you have been unable to resolve your query after referring to the guidance document (available from September), an Attendance Improvement Consultation line is being piloted where you can book a 30-minute slot to speak to a member of the team for support and advice.
The slots are limited to Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during the pilot however more slots are like to be available later in the Autumn term.
A revised code of conduct will be available from September 2023 in line with the DfE guidance. This outlines the responsibility of the local authority. A few things to note are:
- The period cited is now 100 sessions (50 days), you can go back rather than wait until you get to 100 sessions. It can also span over 2 academic years.
- For holiday warnings, schools must evidence that parents have been warned in writing either by email or letter.
- A maximum 2 fixed penalty notices can be issued per year, per child. This does not mean we will issue 2 each year, we can choose to escalate further if appropriate.
- You should refer to the Code of Conduct during the formal meeting when considering legal intervention.
A new prosecution policy has been written by the local authority and will be published in September 2023.
There is a School Attendance (Pupil Registration)(England) Regulations 2023 that comes into force from 1 September 2023. Please read through this to ensure you are aware of any changes that affect the advice we give to schools.
STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS 2023 No.EDUCATION, ENGLAND School Attendance Pupil Registration Regulations 2023
If you would like further support within your school/setting beyond the core offer, we can help with the following:
To purchase these services, click the link below
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School processes:
Acting on behalf of the school to fulfil their day-to-day expectations as set out in section 2 of Working together to improve attendance.
To be delivered by allocated named AIO
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For example:
- First day calling
- Pre-arranged home visits, phone calls, sending out letters from the school
- Parent drop ins or attendance services
- Providing advice and support on attendance at parents’ evenings / running parent sessions
- Implementation of Attendance Policy
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Casework on behalf of the school:
Delivering the attendance work with individual pupils and families that is expected of the school (rather than of the local authority and other partners as defined in section 4).
To be delivered by allocated named AIO
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For example:
- Contacting families and understanding what the barriers to attendance are
- Setting up and leading attendance meetings with families (for early intervention, persistently absent and severely absent pupils)
- Developing in school reasonable adjustments and initial attendance action plans
- Completion of referrals to other services, including early help assessments
- Intensive family support
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Legal Intervention:
Organising and leading on formal legal meetings
To be delivered by allocated named AIO
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For example:
- Sending formal letters
- Carrying out formal meetings
- Ensure all evidence is available if referral to the penalty notice team is required.
- Completing referral paperwork for penalty notices
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