(3 minute read)
Last year, the Government published a strategy and guidance to support schools to boost attendance. Part of that is an expectation that schools, “regularly analyse attendance and absence data to identify pupils or cohorts that require support with their attendance and put effective strategies in place.” Where students face complex barriers to attendance, including SEND needs, schools must work with parents and pupils to provide tailored support. And in a recently published report, the Education Policy Institute (EPI) found that pupil absence is, “a key, and growing, driver of the disadvantage gap.”
Link Between Attendance and Progress
There is a clear link between good attendance and good progress in school. Evidence shows that across both KS2 and KS4, those who attend school regularly are much more likely to achieve the expected standard at the end of both key stages. Pupils who attend regularly are more than 80% likely to achieve the expected standard in their KS2 Sats and a grade 4-9 at GCSE. This drops to 35-40% for those pupils who are persistently absent. For every day of school missed, pupils need to catch up on several hours of lessons, which puts them at more and more of a disadvantage over time. As the EPI research shows, “at each key stage, more than half of the gap is explained by the size of the gap in earlier phases.”
Attendance Data
Government data shows that school absences rose sharply during and immediately after the Covid lockdowns. An absence rate of 4.7% before the pandemic rose to 7.6% in 2021/22. Although it has come down slightly since, there has also been a sharp rise in persistent absence, (missing more than 10% of school days), and severe absence, (missing more than half of school days). Schools are now required to share their daily attendance data with the DfE through their Wonde portal. This allows schools and trusts to compare data with other schools in the local authority and put interventions in place early, for those who need support. The latest DfE Pupil Attendance Data is available on the Government website.
Tracking Attendance with Educater Envision
Envision is a comprehensive tracking system that allows schools to track multiple factors with ease including attendance. If schools are to conduct the required half-termly, termly and full year analysis of data to identify patterns and trends, they need a flexible tracking system that makes this job easy. In Envision, schools can view attainment data alongside attendance records. They can also include subject attendance as an additional aspect of any subject curriculum. Schools are required to use the data to identify and address areas of poor attendance with specific strategies. Envision can also be used to monitor the impact of attendance strategies and interventions.
Conclusion
Evidence suggest that missing school negatively impacts children’s progress at school, their well-being, their exam results and their potential future chances in life. Schools are only able to authorise absences in a few exceptional circumstances, and yet, since the pandemic, levels of absence have increased dramatically. Schools must track and analyse attendance to support those with barriers to attendance early and help to close the disadvantage and attainment gap. Gaining a deeper understanding of attendance patterns has never been easier with a comprehensive tracking system, such as Envision.
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