MANCHESTER MODEL ATTENDANCE POLICY

2024 – 2025

Contents

Contents        1

1.0         Introduction        2

2.0            Legal Framework        2

3.0         Safeguarding        3

4.0         Categorising Absence        3

5.0         Roles and Responsibilities        5

5.1         Governance:        5

5.2        The Headteacher:        5

5.3        The designated Senior Leader responsible for School Attendance:        5

5.4         The Attendance Officer:        6

5.5         Senior Mental Health Lead        6

5.6        Class teachers:        6

5.7         School admin staff:        6

5.8        Parents/carers        6

5.9         Pupils:        7

6.0         Attendance Data        7

6.1        Use of Attendance Data        7

6.2             Analysing attendance data        7

6.3         Using data to improve attendance        7

6.4         Reducing persistent and severe absence        7

7.0         Support Systems        8

8.0        Legal Sanctions        8

Penalty notices        9

Notice to Improve        9

Appendix 1 – Attendance Codes        10

Appendix 2: Traveller Family Absence        12

1.0         Introduction

1.1       Regular school attendance is essential if children are to achieve their full potential.

1.2        St Willibrord’s RC Primary believe that regular school attendance is the key to enabling children to maximise the educational opportunities available to them and become emotionally resilient, confident and competent adults who can realise their full potential and make a positive contribution to their community.    

1.3        St Willibrord’s RC Primary values all pupils. As set out in this policy, we will build strong relationships with families to ensure pupils have the support in place to attend school and identify the reasons for poor attendance.

1.4        St Willibrord’s RC Primary recognise that attendance is a matter for the whole school community. Our Attendance Policy should not be viewed in isolation; it is a strand that runs through all aspects of school improvement, supported by our policies on admissions, safeguarding, anti-bullying, child protection, safeguarding and behaviour and inclusive learning.This policy takes into account the Human Rights Act 1998, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and the Race Relations Act 2000.

1. This policy aims to show our commitment to meeting our obligations with regards to school attendance, including those laid out in the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) statutory guidance on working together to improve school attendance (applies from 19 August 2024), through our whole-school culture and ethos that values good attendance, including:

• Setting high expectations for the attendance and punctuality of all pupils
• Promoting good attendance and the benefits of good attendance
• Reducing absence, including persistent and severe absence
• Ensuring every pupil has access to the full-time education to which they are entitled
• Acting early to address patterns of absence
• Building strong relationships with families to make sure pupils have the support in place to attend school

We will also promote and support punctuality in attending lessons.

2.0            Legal Framework 

2.1          This policy is based on the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) statutory guidance ‘Working together to improve school attendance (effective from 19th  August 2024) and school attendance parental responsibility measures.

The guidance is based on the following legislation, which set out the legal powers and duties that govern school attendance:

• Part 6 of the Education Act 1996
• Part 3 of the Education Act 2002
• Part 7 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006
• The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 (and 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2016 amendments)
• The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013

It also refers to:

• School Census Guidance
• Keeping Children Safe in Education
• Mental health issues affecting a pupil's attendance: guidance for schools

3.0         Safeguarding

3.1         Every pupil should be able learn in an enjoyable and safe environment and be protected   from harm. We respect and value all children and are committed to providing a caring, friendly and safe environment for all our pupils so they can learn and participate in all school activities in a relaxed and secure atmosphere.

3.2         Attending school regularly promotes the welfare and safety of children whilst they are not in the care of their parents/carers. Safeguarding is about offering early help and support to children and families and difficulties with attendance and lateness may be signs that something is worrying the child or that there are difficulties within the family. Poor or irregular attendance, persistent lateness, or children missing from education may be considered a safeguarding matter if this places a child at risk of harm.

3.3           Safeguarding the interests of each child is everyone’s responsibility and within the context of this school; safeguarding and promoting the welfare and life opportunities for children encompasses: Attendance, Behaviour Management, Health and Safety, Access to the Curriculum and Anti- bullying, protecting children from abuse and neglect, online safety, radicalisation and extremism, FGM and CSE.

3.4          More information on safeguarding and the protection of children can be found in the schools Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy.

3.5         In order to allow us to safeguard the children in our care it is important that parents and carers provide the school with their current contact details and provide at least three other contact numbers in case of emergency.

3.6        It is also important for parents inform the school of any specific vulnerability in relation to their child or home circumstances.

4.0         Categorising Absence

4.1         Where pupils of compulsory school age are recorded as absent, the register must show whether the absence is authorised or unauthorised.

4.2         Absence can only be authorised by the headteacher/principal/principal/principal and cannot be authorised by parents. All absences will be treated as unauthorised unless a satisfactory explanation for the pupil’s absence has been received.

4.3         Parents must advise the school by telephone or via StudyBugs on the first day of absence and provide the school with an expected date of return. This should be followed up in the form of a written note from the parent/carer, though verbal explanations may be acceptable where this is considered appropriate.                

4.4         Absence will be categorised as follows:

4.4.1         Illness Parents may be asked to provide medical evidence to allow the head teacher to authorise absence where appropriate. This will usually be in the form of an appointment card, prescription etc.

4.4.2        Medical/Dental Appointments Parents are advised where possible to make medical and dental appointments outside of the school day. Where this is not possible, pupils must attend school for part of the day. Parents must show the appointment card to school.

4.4.3        Other Authorised Circumstances This relates to where there is cause for absence due to exceptional circumstances.  

4.4.4        Suspended or Excluded (No alternative provision made) Exclusion from attending school is counted as an authorised absence. The child’s class teacher/form tutor/Head of Year will make arrangements for work to be sent home.  

4.4.5        Religious Observance St Willibrord’s RC Primary acknowledges the multi-faith nature of British society and recognises that on some occasions, religious festivals may fall outside school holiday periods or weekends and this necessitates a consideration by written request by the parent of authorised absence.

4.4.6        Study Leave Study leave may be granted for Year 11 pupils approaching GCSE examinations. School will offer in school study programmes during this period to reduce absence levels.

4.4.7        Traveller Absence It is expected that Traveller children, in common with all other children, are to attend school as regularly and as frequently as possible (see Appendix 2)

4.4.8        Late Arrival Registration begins at 8:30am, pupils arriving after this time will be marked as present but arriving late (code L). The register will close at 9:00am, pupils arriving after the close of register will be recorded as late (code U) this is not authorised.

On arrival after the close of register, pupils must immediately report to the school office to ensure that we can be responsible for their health and safety whilst they are in school. The absence will only be authorised if a satisfactory explanation for the late arrival can be provided, for example, attendance at a medical appointment.  The absence will be recorded as unauthorised if the pupil has arrived late without justifiable cause.  

4.4.9         Unauthorised absence - Absence will not be authorised unless parents have provided a satisfactory explanation and that it has been accepted as such by the head teacher.

4.4.10        A full list of the Department for Education (DfE) Registration Codes can be found in Appendix 1.

4.5         All requests for leave of absence in term, including holidays, will be responded to in writing.

4.5.1        If a pupil fails to return from a leave of absence and contact with the parents has not been made or received, school may take the pupil off the school’s roll in compliance with the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2013. This means that the child will lose their school place.    

4.5.2         If the permission to take leave is not granted and the parent takes their child out of school the absence will be unauthorised. In such cases the school may request the local authority issue a Penalty Notice or consider other legal sanctions including prosecution in the magistrate’s court. This will follow Manchester Statutory Action Escalation Pathway        

5.0         Roles and Responsibilities

5.1         Governance: 

The governing board is responsible for:

• Promoting the importance of school attendance across the school’s policies and ethos
• Making sure school leaders fulfil expectations and statutory duties
• Regularly reviewing and challenging attendance data
• Monitoring attendance figures for the whole school
• Making sure staff receive adequate training on attendance
• Holding the headteacher to account for the implementation of this policy
• Making sure that the schools attendance management system is delivered effectively
• Making sure the school has high aspirations for all pupils but adapts processes to pupils individual needs

5.2        The Headteacher:

The headteacher is responsible for:

• Implementation of this policy at the school
• Monitoring school-level absence data and reporting it to governors
• Supporting staff with monitoring the attendance of individual pupils
• Monitoring the impact of any implemented attendance strategies
• Requesting statutory action in line with Manchester’s Statutory Action Escalation Pathway
• Ensuring effective communication between school, the Local Authority and parents/carers of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEND) where there are barriers to attendance which relates to the pupils needs
• Following Manchester City Council’s Children Missing Education (CME) Protocol when a pupil’s whereabouts is unknown

5.3        The designated Senior Leader responsible for School Attendance:

The designated Senior Leader is responsible for:

• Leading attendance across the school
• Offering a clear vision for attendance improvement
• Evaluating and monitoring expectations and processes
• Having an oversight of data analysis
• Devising specific strategies to address areas of poor attendance identified through data
• Arranging calls and meetings with parents to discuss attendance issues
• Delivering targeted intervention and support to pupils and families
• Establishing and maintaining effective systems for tackling absence and making sure they are followed by all staff

The designated Senior Leader responsible for Attendance is Carl McIver / Amelia Key and can be contacted via 0161 223 9345 / contact@st-willibrords.manchester.sch.uk

5.4         The Attendance Officer:

The school attendance officer is responsible for:

• Monitoring and analysing attendance data (see section 7)
• Benchmarking attendance data to identify areas of focus for improvement
• Providing regular attendance reports to school staff and reporting concerns about attendance to the designated senior leader responsible for attendance and the headteacher
• Working with the local authority and other key stakeholders to tackle persistent and severe absence
• Liaising with the headteacher/[role] (authorised by the headteacher) as to when a request for statutory action in line with Manchester’s Statutory Action Escalation Pathway is appropriate.

The attendance officer is Carl McIver / Amelia Key  and can be contacted via 0161 223 9345 / contact@St-willibrords.manchester.sch.uk

5.5         Senior Mental Health Lead

A Senior Mental Health Lead is responsible for:

• Strategic oversight for setting a whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing
• Promoting the health and wellbeing of children and young people in school
• Action taken aligned to Manchester’s Emotional Barriers to School Attendance (EBSA) pathway

5.6        Class teachers:

Class teachers are responsible for:

• recording attendance on a daily basis, using the correct codes, and submitting this information to the school office [insert when this needs to be done, e.g. on the same day].

5.7         School admin staff:

School admin staff are responsible for:

• Take calls from parents about absence on a day-to-day basis and record it on the school system
• Transfer calls from parents to the attendance lead in order to provide them with more detailed support on attendance

5.8        Parents/carers: Parents/carers are expected to:

• Make sure their child attends every day on time
• Call the school to report their child’s absence before 8am on the day of the absence, and advise when they are expected to return
• Provide the school with more than 1 emergency contact number for their child
• Ensure that, where possible, appointments for their child are made outside of the school day
• Engage with school support aimed at improving school attendance
• Seek support, where necessary, for maintaining good attendance by contacting Carl McIver / Amelia Key (0161 223 9345 / contact@st-willibrords.manchester.sch.uk)

5.9         Pupils:

Pupils are expected to:

• Attend school every day on time

6.0         Attendance Data

6.1        Use of Attendance Data

The school will:

• Monitor attendance and absence data half-termly, termly, and yearly across the school and at an individual pupil level.
• Identify whether there are groups of children whose absences may be a cause for concern or particular cohorts of pupils where attendance is affecting their achievement/outcomes.
• Pupil-level absence data will be collected each term and published at national and Local Authority level through the DfE’s school absence national statistics releases. 
• The underlying school-level absence data is published alongside the national statistics. The school will compare attendance data to the national average and share this with the Governing Board.  

6.2             Analysing attendance data  

The school will:

• Analyse attendance and absence data regularly to identify pupils or cohorts that need additional support with their attendance, and use this analysis to provide targeted support to these pupils and their families
• Look at historic and emerging patterns of attendance and absence, and then develop strategies to address these patterns
• Identify pupils whose absences may be a cause for concern, especially those who demonstrate patterns of persistent or severe absence 

6.3         Using data to improve attendance

The school will:

• Provide regular attendance reports to Class teachers, and other school leaders, to facilitate discussions with pupils and families
• Use data to monitor and evaluate the impact of any interventions put in place in order to modify them and inform future strategies
• Provide targeted support to the pupils it has identified whose absences may be a cause for concern, especially those who demonstrate patterns of persistent or severed absence, and their families

6.4         Reducing persistent and severe absence

Persistent absence is where a pupil misses 10% or more of school, and severe absence is where a pupil misses 50% or more of school.

The school will:

• Use attendance data to find patterns and trends of persistent and severe absence
• Hold regular meetings with the parents of pupils who the school (and/or local authority) considers to be vulnerable, or are persistently or severely absent, to discuss attendance and engagement at school
• Provide access to wider support services to remove the barriers to attendance
• Consider potential safeguarding issues and, where suspected or present, address them in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education
• The school will send regular updates to parents where attendance has fallen below 95%. The school will arrange meetings and attendance contracts with families.

7.0         Support Systems

7.1        School recognise that poor attendance is often an indication of difficulties and trauma in a child’s life. This may be related to problems at home and/or in school. Parents should make school aware of any difficulties or changes in circumstances that may affect their child’s attendance and/or behaviour in school, for example, bereavement, divorce/separation, incidents of domestic abuse. This will help the school identify any additional support that may be required. It is expected that the child and their family work collaboratively with school to identify the anxiety-based school avoidance resources most appropriate for support and to accept the support that is offered or advised  

7.2         St Willibrord’s RC Primary also recognise that some pupils are more likely to require additional support to attain good attendance, for example, those pupils with special educational needs, those with physical or mental health needs, migrant and refugee pupils and children with a social worker  

7.3         The school will implement a range of strategies to support improved attendance for all pupils. Strategies used will include:

• celebrating good attendance in assemblies or on displays.

• Attendance contracts
• Attendance report cards
• Initiating an Early Help Assessment and/or referral to appropriate agencies such as M Thrive or Early Help Hubs
• Pupil voice activities
• Use of Emotional Barriers to School Attendance pathway (EBSA)
• Trauma-informed approaches

• Time limited part time time-tables
• Inclusion Strategy Toolkit
• Reintegration support packages

7.4          If a pupil has an Education, Health & Care plan, St Willibrord’s will communicate with Manchester City Council EHCP Team at an early stage once they become aware of barriers to attendance that relate to the child’s needs

7.5        Where parents fail or refuse to engage with the support offered and further unauthorised absence occurs, St Willibrord’s RC Primary may consider the use of legal sanctions following Manchester City Councils Code of Conduct        

8.0        Legal Sanctions         

8.1        St Willibrord’s will make use of the full range of potential sanctions – including, but not limited to, those listed below – to tackle poor attendance. Decisions will be made on an individual, case-by-case basis

Penalty notices

8.2        Manchester City Council, upon a request from school, can fine parents for the unauthorised absence of their child from school, where the child is of compulsory school age, by issuing a penalty notice

8.3        Before requesting a legal sanction, the school will consider the individual case, including:

• Whether the national threshold for considering a penalty notice has been met (10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks)
• Whether a penalty notice is the best available tool to improve attendance for that pupil
• Whether appropriate support has been put in place
• Whether any obligations that the school has under the Equality Act 2010 make issuing a penalty notice inappropriate

8.4        Each parent who is liable for the pupil’s offence(s) can be issued with a penalty notice, but this will usually only be the parent/parents who allowed the absence

8.5        The payment must be made directly to the local authority. If the payment has not been made after 28 days, the local authority can decide whether to prosecute or withdraw the notice

8.6        If issued with a first penalty notice, the parent must pay £80 within 21 days, or £160 within 28 days

8.7        If a second penalty notice is issued to the same parent in respect of the same pupil, the parent must pay £160 if paid within 28 days

8.8        A third penalty notice cannot be issued to the same parent in respect of the same child within 3 years of the date of the issue of the first penalty notice. In a case where the national threshold is met for a third time within those 3 years, alternative action will be taken instead.

Notice to Improve

8.9        If the national threshold has been met and support is appropriate, but parents do not engage with offers of support, a Notice to Improve letter will be issued in line with processes set out in by Manchester City Council’s Code of Conduct.  This will include a clear warning that a penalty notice may be issued if attendance doesn’t improve within the monitoring period which will be up to 6 weeks. Sufficient improvement will be decided on a case-by-case basis.

Appendix 1 – Attendance Codes

The following codes are taken from the DfE’s guidance on school attendance.

Appendix 2: Traveller Family Absence

To protect Traveller parents from unreasonable prosecution for non-attendance, the Education Act 1996, section 444(6), states that a Traveller parent is safe from prosecution if their child accrues 200 attendances (i.e. 200 half days) in the year preceding the absence. This applies only when the family proves it is engaged in a trade or business that requires it to travel and when the child is attending school as regularly as that trade permits.

When in or around Manchester, if a family can reasonably travel back to their Base School (see below) then the expectation is that their child will attend full-time.  

St Willibrord’s RC Primary will be regarded as the base school if it is the school where the child normally attends when they are not travelling. However, the pupil must have attended in the last 18 months. Traveller children can register at other schools temporarily while away from their base school, in such cases, the pupil’s school place at xxx will be kept open for them whilst travelling. This is to protect them from unfairly losing their place at their school of usual attendance.

St Willibrord’s RC Primary can only effectively operate as the child’s base school if it is engaged in on-going dialogue with Traveller families. This means that parents must:

• advise of their forthcoming travelling patterns before they happen; and
• inform the school regarding proposed return dates

St Willibrord’s RC Primary will authorise absence of Traveller children if we are satisfied that a family is travelling for work or trade purposes and has given indication that they intend to return.

Traveller children will be recorded as attending an approved educational activity when:

The child is on roll and attending another visited school

Undertaking supervised educational activity under the jurisdiction of another Local Authority’s Traveller Education Service

The child is undertaking computer-based distance learning that is time evidenced

Where Traveller children are registered pupils at a school and are known to be present either at a site (official or otherwise) or in a house and are not attending school, the absence will be investigated in the same way as that for any pupil and appropriate statutory action may be undertaken.