In a new report Securing good attendance and tackling persistent absence, the inspectorate analyses practice by schools which has been successful in boosting pupil attendance following three national lockdowns.
Schools have seen an increase in absences related both directly and indirectly to the pandemic, the report states, including children testing positive for Covid-19, increased parent and child anxiety due to the pandemic and disengagement in learning following school closures.
Approaches taken by schools that have improved and maintained attendance since schools reopened in March last year following a second round of closures, “can best be summarised as ‘listen, understand, empathise and support – but do not tolerate’,” according to Ofsted.
This includes providing children with SEND, “too many of whom often have poor attendance” with a curriculum and provision to create “a positive experience at school”, the report adds.
Understanding the individual needs of disadvantaged students including financial issues at home, poor mental health and poor parental mental health and improving anti-bullying procedures have also increased attendance among the most vulnerable, it states.
Considering the needs of young carers is also vital in supporting consistent attendance, Ofsted says, adding: “When leaders think about attendance, they are thinking about much more than simply being present in school, important though that is. It is also about all pupils attending, including, and often especially, those who are disadvantaged, those who have SEND and those who attend some alternative provision.”
One school leader told the inspectorate: “It’s about working out what is needed to break down the barriers. The most effective schools go out of their way to make sure that they notice the pupils who are often not there and persist with them. ‘Hard to reach’ families become reconceptualised as ‘too easy to ignore’, and therefore the ones who need the most attention.”
The use of breakfast clubs to boost attendance among disadvantaged families, offering struggling families a “wake up” phone call and putting in place procedures to reduce Covid-related anxiety, for example, meeting a child at the gates with the school dog or allowing parents to wait in the car during drop-off and pick-up are cited as good examples of practice in the report.
It also highlights the “crucial” importance of partnership working with local authorities and virtual school heads following a long absence of a child from school.
“The issues that lead to deeply ingrained patterns of persistent absence are often much wider than the school alone can deal with,” it states.
A lack of analysis of patterns of absence, poor use of part-time timetables for pupils with SEND or behavioural difficulties and failure to intervene quickly when a pupil begins to become persistently absent are all noted as barriers to improving support for vulnerable children, the report adds.
