Current attendance: 85.5%
Same time last year: 84.5%
So, the good news is we have improved since last year but the bad news is we are still below the National average 90.2%. We need to do more. Improving school attendance is everyone’s business and, to tackle the challenge we face, we need to work together.
All students should aim to have at least 96% attendance. This is good! We currently have 286 students with an attendance of 96%+ and 87 students with 100% attendance. Students who are in school regularly take part in clubs, are part of teams and experience so much more than just their normal day to day lessons.
Anything less than 96% attendance means a student has had more than 6 days off since the start of September and this will start to affect a student’s progress. 6 days off school is 30 missed lessons or 30 hours of learning and associated experiences.
We know that everyone can be poorly and sometimes need the day in bed to recover, but we want to build resilience and try to be in school even if they are not feeling 100%. If your child is feeling under the weather, it can be hard to know if you should send them to school. Unless they have a temperature of 38 degrees or above, they are usually good to go! If in doubt, check the NHS school illness guidance for their symptoms to see if they should stay at home. Remember, our job is to look after children when they are in school as well as help them learn.
Attendance of less than 90% is classed as persistent absence.
The link between attendance and attainment is clear:
• In 2018/19, 36% of persistently absent (PA) children in KS4 achieved a 4 to 9 in their English and Maths GCSEs, compared with 84% of regular attenders.
And it’s never too late to benefit from good attendance:
• When student's attendance improves, the likelihood of achieving qualifications at the end of school massively increases. More than half (54%) of students who were PA in Year 10 and then rarely absent in Year 11, passed at least 5 GCSEs, compared to 36% of students who were persistently absent in both years.
But attendance is important for more than just attainment:
• Regular school attendance can facilitate positive peer relationships, which is a protective factor for mental health and wellbeing.
We are dedicated to supporting strong attendance for the students at Barnwood Park so that they can build positive peer relationships, develop their confidence and receive an excellent education. The benefits of being in school are numerous. However, the pandemic disrupted attendance habits for some and we are still trying to get back to good habits. School, parents and children all need to work together to breakdown any barriers to attending school. We also need to recognise if additional support is needed to improve attendance.
The Education Hub (www.educationhub.blog.gov.uk) is a site for parents, students, education professionals and the media that captures all you need to know about the education system. You’ll find accessible, straightforward information on popular topics, Q&As, interviews, case studies, and more.
These are a few good places to start:
Why is school attendance so important and what are the risks of missing a day? - The Education Hub (blog.gov.uk)
How to improve your child’s school attendance and where to get support - The Education Hub (blog.gov.uk)
Mental health resources for children, students, parents, carers and school/college staff - The Education Hub (blog.gov.uk)
When you register your child at school, you have a legal duty to ensure your child attends that school regularly. This means that your child must attend every day that the school is open, unless:
- Your child is too ill to attend that day.
- You have asked in advance and been given permission by school for your child to be absent on that day due to exceptional circumstances.
- Your child cannot attend school on that day because it is a day you are taking part in religious observance.
- Your local authority is responsible for arranging your child’s transport to school and it is not available on that day or has not been provided yet; or
- You are a gypsy/traveller family with no fixed abode, and you are required to travel for work that day meaning your child cannot attend their usual school. In most circumstances, however, your child is required to attend another school temporarily during such absences.
These are the only circumstances where schools can permit your child to be absent.
At Barnwood Park we want to help every student achieve their best, in all areas, so they need to be in school to do this.
Barnwood Park are taking part in an exciting research project with our partner ImpactEd. ImpactEd is a social enterprise research company which evaluates what is working well in schools across the country and what impact this is having on the outcomes of our young people.
Improving attendance is a shared goal not only at Barnwood Park but across UK schools as a whole. We are using the ImpactEd platform to complete self-report surveys to help us understand some of the barriers to achieving higher attendance rates. This will help us put in place targeted interventions and support for our students.
Over the next few weeks, all students will complete a short self-report survey to gather their feedback on the following areas related to attendance rates:
● School engagement - measures students’ behavioural, emotional and cognitive engagement with school.
● Wellbeing - includes contentment, overall sense of purpose and day-to-day happiness.
● Psychological sense of school membership - focused on a sense of belonging to the school community.
● Attendance drivers - behavioural factors which may influence attendance, such as routines, transport issues, bed times etc.
Students will complete their surveys during the school day. While we hope students will value the opportunity to give their honest opinions on these topics, students will also be made aware that they can opt out of the survey if they wish.
Thank you in advance for your support and we look forward to sharing the findings with you later this academic year.
