Our Attendance Strategy

Spring Meadow Primary School and ‘School House’ Nursery approach to supporting and improving school attendance.

The Strategic Approach
Spring Meadow Primary School and ‘School House’ Nursery  is working towards becoming recognised as an Inclusive Attendance school.  The Inclusive Attendance approach  is modelled on the work of Professor Katherine Weare. What works in promoting social and emotional well-being and responding to mental health problems in schools?   Our unwavering commitment to attendance centres around child-centric actions, evidence-informed practices, and a shared understanding of everyone's roles and collective responsibilities to promote exceptional attendance.  The emphasis is on developing a school culture and climate which builds a sense of connectedness and belonging to ensure all children can attend school and thrive.  The approach ensures we prioritise building solid working relationships with children and their parents prior to any escalation.  Our staged approach facilitates the early identification of triggers that might lead to poor attendance, such as mental health issues, lack of trust, communication and relationship breakdowns. It also allows earlier referral to external agencies

Inclusive Attendance Professional Development Model

Our attendance approach is fundamentally guided by the Inclusive Attendance professional development model. Comprising six tailored Learning Modules, this model empowers us to deepen our understanding by facilitating continuous professional learning for all staff. Within this model, the four domains of practice ensure the provision of professional learning, professional development, evidence-based practices, and exemplary leadership and management to seamlessly integrate theory into practice.

Inclusive Attendance 7-Month Development Programme

In order to embed the Inclusive Attendance model across our school, we are participating in the Inclusive Attendance 7-month development programme.  This will mean that all staff will have been trained and our strategy embedded by September 2024. Investment in this programme will allow us to remain at the forefront of educational change and extend unparalleled support to our children and their families, equipping them with access to the finest possible assistance.

Aims of our strategy
 

• Increase school Attendance and reduce Persistent Absence to meet set targets.
• Ensure Attendance is well managed within the school, with the appropriate level of resources allocated.
• Enable the school to make informed use of Attendance data to target interventions appropriately, focusing on the key demographic groups highlighted in the 2022 DFE paper.

Objectives 

• Create an ethos within the school community in which good attendance is recognised as the norm and every child and parent aims for excellent attendance. 
• Make attendance and punctuality a priority for the whole school community
• Set focused targets to improve individual attendance and whole school attendance levels. 
• Adopt the Inclusive Attendance Model in order to embed whole school responsibility for promoting a positive attitude towards attendance and punctuality. 
• Carefully monitor attendance, absenteeism and punctuality, and apply appropriate strategies to minimise absenteeism and lateness.
• Develop a systematic approach to gathering and analysing relevant attendance data
• Provide support, advice and guidance to; parents, children and young people and develop mutual cooperation between home and the school in encouraging good attendance and in addressing identified attendance issues.