The Education Secretary has set every school an individual minimum attendance improvement target – part of an urgent drive to restore absence to pre-pandemic levels.
Last year saw the biggest improvement in overall attendance in a decade, with the government overseeing 5.3 million more days in school and 140,000 fewer persistently absent pupils as part of its Plan for Change.
But with one in three schools failing to improve, the Department for Education will on Wednesday (12 November) set out a roadmap for every school to double down on its efforts to support pupils back to class, as research shows the importance of every day in school for children’s opportunities in life and future earnings.
From this month, every school will be issued with AI-powered minimum attendance improvement targets to ensure children are in school and ready to achieve. The attendance baseline improvement expectation (ABIE) will be based on schools’ circumstances – including location, pupil needs, and deprivation.
The department is also using AI and data to give more support to schools to meet the minimum expectations, by linking them up with high-performing schools with similar circumstances. These top schools will be identified within each school’s ABIE report.
This comes alongside 36 new Attendance and Behaviour Hubs launching today, which will offer direct one-to-one support reaching tens of thousands of pupils across hundreds of schools, as well as wider sharing of best practice through events and open days.
“We can only deliver opportunity for children in our country if they’re in school, achieving and thriving. That’s why I want every school to play its part in getting attendance back to – and beyond – pre-pandemic levels,” said Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson.
“We’ve already delivered the biggest improvement in attendance in a decade and now we’re building a school system for the future with free breakfast clubs, more mental health support and a curriculum and enrichment offer to match. But we must go further.
“By working jointly with schools to set individual targets, we’re tackling variation head-on. Our best schools already have a brilliant approach to attendance, and now we’re driving that focus everywhere so that all children are supported to attend school and learn,” she said.
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