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 (18 per cent of young people who play truant start while still in primary school (MORI)), not being present at school disadvantages children.

High View Primary School in Wandsworth, South London, has recently seen significant improvements in attendance among its 360 pupils (ages 3-11). Although there are obvious social needs among the children there — 46 per cent are eligible for free school meals, more than a third are from homes where English is an additional language and the socio-economic circumstances of their families are well below average according to Ofsted — attendance is a priority.

Three years ago, headteacher Joyce Ridge identified the main causes of poor attendance at the school as being long holidays overseas and the acceptance that a day off sick could become a week.

Having set a target of 94 per cent from a starting point of 90 per cent, the first stage of the attendance campaign at High View was to raise its profile with parents. Now, fortnightly newsletters containing reminders about attendance are sent home, as are letters acknowledging improvements in attendance. It is also addressed with children in assemblies. Rewards are given each week to the class with the best attendance and each half term prizes are given for perfect attendance.

These strategies were slow to impact until first-day phone calls were introduced to find out why a child is away, and to establish when they will return. "For us," Joyce notes, "the first-day phone calls have been the most effective tool in raising attendance. I didn't think I'd find office time to do it, but it got to the point where I had to try. The calls made such a difference."

Children with attendance under 80 per cent are specifically targeted at High View. Each term, Joyce writes to the parents of those children to say that their attendance needs to improve, offering support from the school and the Education Welfare Officer (EWO). Some families are invited to an attendance panel to meet the EWO, to explain the problems they face getting their children into school. Parents generally want to avoid this process, so attendance improves fairly rapidly.

Attendance campaign

Being part of the Excellence in Cities programme of support, High View has a learning mentor who took on five families of the poorest attendees. "He built up good links with the parents, would make first-day phone calls and would go to homes and bring the children to school if the family was in crisis," explains Joyce.

Class teachers are involved in the attendance campaign, but their burden of work hasn't increased. During registration they highlight attendance by saying things, such as "how many are away today?" And if the class wins a reward for attendance, which might, for example, be extra playtime, golden time — a kind of treat time — or an extra PE lesson, it negotiates this with its teacher. They also praise good and improved attendance by focusing on children's work. "We always link attendance back to the work they're doing," says Joyce.

Although High View didn't quite meet its 94 per cent target for 2004, it did reach 93.6 per cent. So far this academic year, attendance is running at 94.1 per cent and the threshold for targeting families has risen from 80 to 90 per cent attendance. The contribution to results is clear: A rise from 63 to 82 per cent in English, 71 to 84 per cent in maths and 86 to 90 per cent in science at the end of Key Stage 2 tests from 2003 to 2004 respectively. It's been steady progress, tenacity and teamwork have certainly paid off.

Words: Elizabeth Holmes

FOR MORE INFO

Resources can be found at the School Attendance website: www.dfes.gov.uk/schoolattendance

VISIT

www.everychildmatters.gov.uk
www.teachernet.gov.uk/behaviour

How schools are improving attendance

• Treat attendance as a priority in your school. Promote it to parents and pupils as often as possible and make non-attendance an unacceptable choice
• 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
• Reward good and improving attendance
• 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 their 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/carers 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