Getting To The Heart Of Persistent Absence

Imagine Maya, a pupil who is typically always in class, starts to regularly miss school on a Friday. Or Elias, a keen mathematician, has been absent for quite a chunk of the last term, missing some key areas of the maths curriculum.

Reminders may be sent to the parents of these students underlining the importance of being in school and measures will be put in place to help them catch up with missed learning. But periods of absence can have a significant negative impact on the wellbeing and progress children make in school.

Could more be done sooner, to help prevent a couple of days away from the classroom from becoming a more deep-seated problem that holds children back?

Growing concern

Recent government figures show 22.6% of pupils were reported as persistently absent between September 2022 and March 2023, a growing concern for school leaders, teachers, parents and carers.

There are many reasons for this, including illness – and no teacher wants to see their pupils in class when they aren’t well. But absence through sickness may only be part of a more complex picture.

The reasons behind absence are not always clear cut. Anxiety induced school refusal is becoming increasingly prevalent as some children have struggled to return to normal school routines after being away from the classroom during lockdown.

Strategies and resources are needed that help schools gain a deeper understanding of the challenges children and families face so they can eliminate the obstacles that prevent pupils from being in school, learning and thriving.

Uncover the issues

Information from the morning register can be useful for identifying patterns, such as a child consistently missing school on days when there is a PE lesson. It might be there’s a bullying issue that needs tackling in the lesson, or the child’s family could be unable to provide the equipment they need to join in team sports, and so they are kept at home on PE days. Of course there could also be more serious safeguarding concerns that need to be explored and consideration given to issues such as period poverty.

Being able to access more context to explain why a pupil is continually absent is key. For a parent who is caring for an elderly relative or supporting another family member with mental health problems, getting their children into school three times a week could be a major challenge, let alone achieving this every day. Knowing this enables the school to step in and offer meaningful support. Arranging a lift to school with another pupil on certain days might be all that’s needed to boost their attendance.

Notes can be added to a school’s management information system (MIS) to provide the context so that teaching, pastoral and other authorised staff have a clearer picture of what is going on for a child and their family. This allows the school to work more closely with parents and carers to find solutions that works.

Remove barriers

Analysing attendance data can be a useful tool for addressing absenteeism. Advances in technology have made it easier than ever before to compare the attendance history of a pupil against that of their class, year group or the entire school. This can help to flag individuals at risk of persistent absence or shine a light on issues with specific year groups and times of year when attendance can dip.

Viewing children’s attendance information along with other data can help too. Information on behaviour, recent contact with pastoral services or concerns raised by teachers can help schools to get to the centre of the issue, particularly when the root cause is not immediately obvious.

The charity Plan International recently highlighted that 64% of girls between the ages of 14 and 21 in the UK have missed either part of the school day, or a whole school day due to period poverty and the stigma around menstruation. So, if absenteeism is heavily weighted towards girls, or this group regularly miss school on several consecutive days, could the reason be period related? If so, providing free period products or dedicating time in the PHSE curriculum to discuss issues around menstruation could be a simple way to reduce pupil absence.

Personalise parental communications

A personalised approach to communication can help to engage parents and carers and improve attendance. Sending an automated text message or email every time a child is absent from school, or to announce the pupils’ attendance has dipped below 96%, won’t necessarily resonate with a family in crisis. It won’t encourage them to reach out for help if they need it either. A more personalised response could make all the difference and might be the important first step towards gaining a clearer understanding of the child or family’s circumstances.

If a teacher highlights that a pupil often misses school on a Wednesday, sending a timely text to their parent or carer on Tuesday evening could prompt them to take additional steps to ensure their child is in school the next day. Communicating how a day of absence a week will result in 39 days of lost learning for their child by the end of the year might also help to get the message across.

The method used can make a difference to engagement levels too – a short text message is more likely to be read than an email or a letter by a family juggling multiple priorities and responsibilities.

Schools can build trust through regular conversations and gentle text message reminders about the impact of absence on a child’s learning, particularly with harder to reach parents whose lives may be complex.

Strong home-school links can be a game-changer when it comes to tackling pupil absence. Early identification of pupils at risk of becoming frequently absent and the ability to spot changes in behaviour can help schools engage more effectively with parents and target support where it is needed to help families keep children like Maya and Elias learning and thriving.

Louise Pink has over 10 years’ experience leading schools. She is now senior customer success MAT manager at SIMS from ParentPay Group.