Improving Attendance Outcomes

Attendance has risen by three percentage points to above 97%. Persistent absence has significantly reduced.

Our attendance was below the national figure and we had a number of children with persistent absence. Over a third of our families were taking children out of school on holidays. In order to raise standards we needed to ensure that attitudes to attendance changed.

We changed our strategy by:

• We rewrote our policy to include higher expectations and rewards;
• We have constantly reinforced the importance of high attendance with the children;
• Every week that a child has 100% attendance, they are awarded a raffle ticket which is then put into a draw each half term.  Four tickets are drawn for each class;
• The children have a choice of prizes, from a variety of stationery, stickers etc.  It has been very popular;
• The school awards a weekly certificate to the class which has the highest attendance.  There is also a trophy which is held by the class with the highest attendance that half term;
• The trophy winners also receive a reward, again of their choosing, but usually things like a video, PJ party, etc.  which is easy  and inexpensive to implement, and highly popular;
• Gift vouchers are awarded to those with 100% attendance all year;
• There is a strict system of tracking, including phone calls, meetings etc. with parents;
• Attendance has been a feature of the newsletter on a regular basis, to ensure that the issue is raised with parents.  As part of parental meetings, attendance records are shared;
• Attendance has been part of the school development plan and the revised policy was shared with parents.  We also have brought to parents’ attention any trends we have noticed, which have then been addressed. 

The reward budget for the children has been around £200, including the gift vouchers, as the half termly rewards are fun activities in the school, rather than trips out.

Holding a firm line on attendance has meant that we have increased unauthorised attendance, but this strategy has still seen better attendance overall.