New data reveals that 375,000 more children across all year
groups were in school almost every day last year, as the
Government looks to deliver the next phase of its internationally
recognised attendance strategy.
The launch of a new in-depth daily data tool today (Friday 10
May) means schools can now identify absence trends across
different year groups and pupil characteristics so they can
address areas of concern to drive up improvements in attendance.
More children were in school almost every day - around 14 more
children in the average primary school and 39 more pupils in the
average secondary school – compared with 2021/22. This trend was
across the country and all year groups – including key vulnerable
cohorts such as children with special educational needs or those
receiving free school meals.
The Department for Education is asking schools to use this tool
to spot attendance trends and act quickly in supporting
pupils.
The latest data
tool published today comes a week after the OECD
has recognised England's wide ranging and ‘comprehensive'
strategy for tackling school absence. While the report recognised
school attendance is a global issue following the pandemic, it
highlighted England's world leading data collections which
support and inform our attendance initiatives and statutory
guidance, while many other countries had data collection
limitations.
England's attendance levels are significantly higher than those
in Wales and Scotland. In the last year, pupils in England were
attending school over a week and a half more than children in
Wales, and nearly a week more than children in Scotland. Previous
Government analysis also shows 440,000 fewer children were
persistently not attending last year compared to the year before.
It builds on the Government's success in raising school standards
alongside the hard work of teachers and school leaders, with 90%
of schools now rated by Ofsted as Good or Outstanding, up from
just 68% in 2010. Pupils in England are now ‘best in the West' at
reading and have risen to 11th in the global maths rankings, up
from only 27th in 2009, according to the Programme for
International Student Assessment (PISA) study.
Education Secretary, said:
As the OECD has recognised, and thanks to our brilliant teachers
and head teachers, England is leading the world in our approach
to helping children return to the classroom.
Attendance is my number one priority. Alongside schools, I am one
of the only Education Secretaries in the world to now have
in-depth daily attendance data at their fingertips, giving the
government, councils and schools the insights needed to target
pupils who need the most support.
Being in school has never been more valuable which is why we need
to stick to our plan to drive up attendance and ensure every
child gets a world-class education.
CEO of Northern Education Trust and the Government's Attendance
Ambassador, Rob Tarn said:
This new data approach is a big step forward in our work to
return attendance to pre-pandemic levels and beyond.
We used this data to identify patterns of absence in one cohort
of Year 7 students in one of our academies. This has allowed us,
working closely with the LA, to target intensive intervention to
reduce the number of this cohort who are persistently absent.
By using this more granular breakdown of absence and benchmarking
performance against local and national data headteachers can take
the make strategic decisions and be laser focused in their
response to the absence profile in their school.
These tools follow new statutory guidance on attendance, Working Together to
Improve School Attendance, coming into force in August, which
asks all schools to develop strategies for reducing persistent
and severe absence, including access to wider support services
via the local authority. This includes expectations to include
termly meetings between local authorities and schools to agree
plans for severely absent children, and schools appointing
attendance champions and publishing an attendance policy.
The plan includes a national attendance hubs initiative reaching
a million students, and pilot attendance mentoring programme
backed by £15 million. This Government has also invested £2.9bn
this financial year in the Pupil Premium, which can be used to
support attendance.
