Included, Engaged and Involved Part 1: Improving Attendance in Scotland's Schools

Responding to absence

Staged Intervention

Many types of absence will not require follow up action or can be addressed promptly through in-school support and by fostering positive relationships with children, young people, and their families. However, there will be occasions when absence becomes a more significant concern that requires a more structured and coordinated response. This may include long-term or persistent absence or when there are more complex underlying factors involved. All types of absence should be closely monitored to identify concerns or emerging patterns. Where follow up action is required, this should be undertaken without delay.

Schools are expected to have clear staged intervention processes to support attendance. These processes should have a clear focus on early intervention and prevention, ensuring that emerging concerns are identified and addressed before they escalate. Staged intervention may include:

• high quality pastoral care systems that enable early identification and response to absence or signs of emerging difficulties
• targeted approaches to identify and support children and young people who may be vulnerable to low attendance or engagement
• robust assessment and planning to identify and address additional support needs that may be creating barriers to learning, impacting on attendance or engagement
• development of a Child’s Plan that clearly outlines the supports and structures required to support any wellbeing or additional support needs
• flexible learning pathways and planned, inclusive approaches to school attendance that support pupils to maximise their attendance and engagement
• multi-agency collaboration such as through pupil support groups, school liaison groups, team around the child or young person meetings to ensure effective and co-ordinated support for the pupil and their families
• formal involvement of the education authority including referral to local attendance committees, other agencies or consideration of alternative pathways
• recourse to measures for ensuring compliance, through attendance orders or referral to the Children’s Reporter

Engagement with children and young people

It is vital that responses to absence put children and young people at the centre. In line with GIRFEC and UNCRC, schools should ensure that children and young people are listened to, have their rights respected and are meaningfully involved in discussions and decisions about planning and support. Schools should:

• ensure children and young people have a trusted adult in school who can talk with them about their experiences or concerns
• offer regular, planned opportunities for children and young people to share their views and co-design any attendance or support plan
• facilitate access to advocacy, where appropriate, to ensure children and young people can be supported to share their views
• frame interventions around wellbeing and a sustainable return to learning

The toolkit to support children and young people’s attendance and engagement can support schools with this approach.

Parental Engagement

Parents play a key role in promoting and supporting good attendance. Schools should consider the following actions to ensure clear and consistent communication and collaboration with parents about attendance-related concerns.

• keep parents informed about attendance levels through the school’s tracking and monitoring system and notify them when attendance falls below the school’s set threshold, while ensuring communication is proportionate, supportive, and avoids excessive or overly formal contact that could increase stress, stigma, or disengagement
• ensure written communication includes contact details for the staff member who can support the child or young person and their parents, along with information about further support available to improve attendance
• use supportive and constructive language in all communications to help families feel respected and understood
• engage proactively with parents to build collaborative relationships and respond to emerging issues that that may affect attendance
• ensure communication is accessible, inclusive and sensitive to different needs, including those arising from a disability, communication or language barrier
• provide copies of all relevant correspondence related to Care-experienced children and young people to their social worker
• maintain accurate pastoral notes on SEEMiS, including details of engagement with parents about attendance. This supports continuity of care, reduces the need for parents to repeat their child’s situation, and helps schools identify and respond to emerging patterns
• respond to ongoing patterns of absence by continuing to work closely with parents to identify and resolve underlying issues, and to strengthen positive and trusting relationships between home and school
• work with partners to identify and address barriers to attendance and engagement as early as possible. This should align with education authorities’ responsibilities under GIRFEC and additional support for learning and contribute to wider efforts to reduce the cost of the school day and address bullying
• consider home visits by designated non-teaching staff where concerns about attendance persist. These visits can help strengthen relationships between parents and the school, better understand the family’s needs and inform decisions about support through local multi-agency planning groups
• inform parents of local support initiatives, such as advocacy services, which can help ensure their views are heard and understood

Schools should ensure that safeguarding considerations are embedded in the approach to engagement about attendance. This includes recognising that absence or lateness may be linked to complex family circumstances and ensuring that any concerns about a child or young person’s wellbeing are identified and responded to appropriately. Further guidance is provided in Education Scotland’s resources about safeguarding and child protection and in the signposting and resources section of this guidance. The toolkit to support children and young people’s attendance and engagement may also be helpful.

Pastoral Care

Pastoral care staff have a key role in monitoring, assessing and supporting absence. They should be supported with time and ongoing professional learning to identify patterns and underlying causes for absence in order that these can be addressed as quickly as possible. Other school staff and agencies may also contribute to this assessment. Under currently agreed LNCT job profiles, responsibilities of pastoral care staff^[40] could include:

• responding quickly to absence, to ensure children and young people are safe and well
• following up on absence appropriately, enabling schools and partners to respond effectively
• recognising early signs or concerns that may cause absence and consider appropriate action
• identifying where absence may become a pattern or habit following a specific issue and take appropriate action to address this
• contributing to the development of support plans or individual interventions to support attendance and reduce absence
• supporting reintegration into learning on returning from absence
• building positive, trusting relationships with children and young people and parents to support early intervention and minimise the impact of challenges on learning and wellbeing
• considering the appropriateness of involving external services, such as advocacy, to resolve concerns where trust has broken down

Pastoral care staff should establish links with partner agencies to strengthen support to children and young people and parents. Education authorities can support school-based teams by having appropriate structures for centralised support to schools.