Improving Attendance

Welsh Government have released new draft guidance, ‘Belonging, engaging and participating’ on improving learner engagement and attendance for consultation. This guidance and consultation documentation can be found and responded to here. You have until 20 July 2023 to respond.

There is no statutory minimum level of attendance specified in legislation. However, good attendance is usually considered to be above 95%. Persistent absence has been defined in Wales as being absent for over 20% of half day school sessions, however, Welsh Government propose that this be amended to over 10% of sessions.

Being frequently late for school also adds up to lost learning:

In a press release earlier this month, Minister for Education and Welsh Language, Jeremy Miles has said:

“There is a well-established link between attendance, attainment and wellbeing. My priority, above all else, is to ensure that every young person has the opportunity to reach their full potential. Tackling learner absence is key to this.”

How can Taith360 help?

In the last year, Estyn have strengthened their reporting requirements on pupil attendance. In their supporting evidence inspectors should always consider:

1. the number of pupils who have attendance rates well below those of others in the school, especially those with attendance rates below 80% from September 2022

On the class overview page you can view the attendance for each pupil in the class alongside the class and school average:

2. rates of attendance of particular groups of pupils in comparison to the rest of the school, such as pupils who are eligible for free school meals or pupils with additional learning needs

Did you know that you can select a contextual group as a class so you’re able to see the attendance details for all your FSM pupils in one place

3. comparative rates of attendance for year groups across the school

Use the School Overview page to see attendance for all year groups side by side:

4. whether pupils arrive at school and lessons punctually

On Pupil Overview, you can see the number of times a pupil has been late this year:

5. whether any deficit in attendance impacts on standards of pupils or groups of pupils, taking care not to simply imply causation from correlation

Use the summary information on the Pupil Overview pages to identify impacts on standards. Add comments in the attendance section to document these findings.

Sally Bliwert

Director, Assessment360