Putting in the hours

Non-attendance is one of the single biggest blocks to achievement. Whether absence is due to term-time holidays, dubious illnesses or truancy (47 per cent of young people who play truant started in their first two years of secondary school (MORI)), not being present places non-attenders at a distinct disadvantage.

This premise lies at the centre of the drive to raise attendance at Hillcrest School and Community College in Dudley, West Midlands.

In December 1998, Hillcrest was placed in special measures. Headteacher Mo Brennan joined the school in September 2000 when attendance was at 88 per cent and unauthorised absences at 3.3 per cent.

"It was obvious that if we didn't get children attending the school, it would close," Mo explains. "Our attitude was that if parents send their children in, we'll teach them, make sure they enjoy it and don't go home hurt." This practical approach brought quick results. Attendance improved within a month, and within a year it had gone up to 90 per cent. 

Mo employed an education social worker for the school, who knocks on the doors of truants. It has proved to be a personal touch worth its weight in gold.

Another approach that Hillcrest takes is to use hard evidence to illustrate how many children with 95-100 per cent attendance get really good grades. "We work in an area where 35 per cent-plus receive free school meals, there is 20 per cent ethnic diversity and 19 per cent of our youngsters have English as a second language," says Mo. "It's easy for parents to say they're disadvantaged, but we say that parents are choosing to disadvantage their children by not sending them in." 

Attendance has become part of Hillcrest's whole school ethos. The message is given at every parents' consultation night, through reports home and phone calls to parents, and it's mentioned regularly in newsletters and in the school council. This resonates with parents; the council is so over subscribed it receives 450 applications for 150 places. Ofsted has noticed, too — Hillcrest has been described by Her Majesty's chief inspector David Bell as one of the most outstanding schools in the country.

Taking the initiative

The success of Hillcrest's approach to attendance doesn't depend on an increased workload for teachers. They record attendance electronically in every lesson, and administration staff report attendance data to the heads of house, as well as making first-day phone calls. Deploying administration staff in this way has reduced teacher workload dramatically.

Hillcrest's 'buddy' system tackles the duration of absence. When a child is off, staff will ask a friend to call by their house to see how they are, take homework for them and ask if they're going in the next day. Those who develop a phobia about returning to school can attend a 'halfway house' — formerly the caretaker's house — so that they are on campus, but in a manageable way.  

Reward systems have worked, too. "We took 30 well-behaved children with 100 per cent attendance, free of charge, on a three-day adventure residential," Mo says. "This was a way of recognising that they are a very important part of the school. We go to Alton Towers on a Sunday, too, and we have school discos where good attenders are invited to buy a ticket." 

Strategy for the future sees Hillcrest employing a school nurse. As Mo explains: "We will tell parents of children who are regularly ill to send them in. If they are that bad, we will take them home, but with a school nurse we can make that decision."

When Mo started at Hillcrest, 17 per cent of pupils had achieved GCSE grades A-C. Quickly, this figure rose to 38 per cent, then 42 per cent and, most recently, 43 per cent. The school is now in the top five per cent nationally for value-added results in Key Stages 3 to 4, and attendance is high at 92 per cent and rising, compared with other schools in the borough. 

Words: Elizabeth Holmes

FOR MORE INFO

Resources can be found at the School Attendance website: www.dfes.gov.uk/schoolattendance
For more info, visit www.everychildmatters.gov.uk or www.teachernet.gov.uk/behaviour

How schools are improving attendance

• Treat attendance as a priority in your school. Make non-attendance an unacceptable choice and encourage the school council to look at the issue
• Have a clear and published policy on attendance
• Monitor attendance closely and gather data on it to help inform the action your school will take
• Intervene early — first-day phone calls home are effective, as is the Hillcrest 'buddy' system
• Reward good and improving attendance. Define their reasons for wanting to be in school
• Support vulnerable pupils by offering 'gentle' ways back into school, perhaps through a 'halfway' class for a limited period

Engaging parents/carers

• Emphasise, through newsletters, websites, reports and parents' meetings, the impact that non-attendance can have on the life experiences of children
• Communicate clearly with parents (and pupils) about the consequences of condoned absence and truancy
• Remind parents of their legal obligations and the potential sanctions, such as penalty notices
• Provide information about support services that parents can access

Since 1997, the overall rate of absence, including authorised absences, has fallen from 7.6 per cent to 6.7 per cent (Source: NAO).

The DfES has spent £885m on initiatives that were, at least in part, to reduce absence (NAO).

This content was published in March 2005 and may not reflect current policy

Originally published in Teachers Magazine May 2005