Every child in the United Kingdom has the right to a full-time education, so that they can develop to their fullest potential and gain important skills that prepare them for the future, increasing their life choices.
There are lots of benefits to attending school regularly, including:
Improved education attainment and progression
Positive development of friendships
Positive development of social skills
Positive development of teamwork
Positive development of life skills
Positive development of cultural awareness
We understand that schools are not perfect and children may encounter problems, but we encourage you to use the advice in the section entitled resolving difficulties in school to work through any issues that arise. This is often a good way to demonstrate to your child good problem solving skills and resilience.
The ideal is always 100% school attendance to help maximise children’s access to education and learning and to support them to achieve their full potential.
We acknowledge that for a small number of children this attendance figure will not be possible due to reasons of ill health, disability, or other social/emotional needs.
In these cases, children’s attendance will be viewed within the context of each individual learner’s needs so that they can be supported to achieve their highest level of attendance.
The ideal is always 100% school attendance to help maximise children’s access to education and learning and to support them to achieve their full potential.
We acknowledge that for a small number of children this attendance figure will not be possible due to reasons of ill health, disability, or other social/emotional needs.
In these cases, children’s attendance will be viewed within the context of each individual learner’s needs so that they can be supported to achieve their highest level of attendance.
Good attendance is linked with improved achievement at school, the more a child is in school the more progress they will make. Most parents want their children to have good attendance at school and do their best to ensure this happens.
The law entitles every child of compulsory school age to a suitable full-time education. Parents/carers have a duty, under section 7 of the Education Act 1996, to ensure that their child of compulsory school age (5 to 16) receives an efficient full-time education either by attendance at school or otherwise. It is the legal responsibility of all parents/carers to ensure their child receives that education by full-time attendance at school or otherwise.
This means that parents must ensure that:
Their child receives an education either by attendance at a school, or by education otherwise than at a school for example elective home education.
Their child attends that school regularly. This means their child must attend every day that the school is open, except in a small number of allowable circumstances such as being too ill to attend or being given permission for an absence in advance from the school.
Parents are expected to:
Ensure their child attends every day that the school is open
Notify the school as soon as possible when their child will be unexpectedly absent
Work with the school and local authority to help them understand if their child’s barriers to attendance.
Proactively engage with the support offered around attendance to prevent the need for more formal support.
Proactively engage with the formal support offered around attendance– including any attendance contract or voluntary early help plan to prevent the need for legal intervention.
Good attendance is linked with improved achievement at school, the more a child is in school the more progress they will make. Most parents want their children to have good attendance at school and do their best to ensure this happens.
The law entitles every child of compulsory school age to a suitable full-time education. Parents/carers have a duty, under section 7 of the Education Act 1996, to ensure that their child of compulsory school age (5 to 16) receives an efficient full-time education either by attendance at school or otherwise. It is the legal responsibility of all parents/carers to ensure their child receives that education by full-time attendance at school or otherwise.
This means that parents must ensure that:
Their child receives an education either by attendance at a school, or by education otherwise than at a school for example elective home education.
Their child attends that school regularly. This means their child must attend every day that the school is open, except in a small number of allowable circumstances such as being too ill to attend or being given permission for an absence in advance from the school.
Parents are expected to:
Ensure their child attends every day that the school is open
Notify the school as soon as possible when their child will be unexpectedly absent
Work with the school and local authority to help them understand if their child’s barriers to attendance.
Proactively engage with the support offered around attendance to prevent the need for more formal support.
Proactively engage with the formal support offered around attendance– including any attendance contract or voluntary early help plan to prevent the need for legal intervention.
The NHS have a helpful guide for parents on when it is necessary to keep a child home from school. You can find this here: Is my child too ill for school?
The NHS have a helpful guide for parents on when it is necessary to keep a child home from school. You can find this here: Is my child too ill for school?
Mental health impacting on attendance
Sometimes there are difficulties that families face which impact on their child’s attendance at school. We are seeing an increase in children and young people struggling to attend school due to anxiety.
Children and young people might become anxious about attending school for many reasons. For example:
worried about not doing as well as they hoped or expected academically
struggling with their mental health (for example low self-esteem, self-confidence or mood)
having difficulties managing and regulating their emotions
experiencing difficulties with their relationships, whether that’s at home or at school
being bullied
dealing with high levels of family stress
being young carers who are worried about their parents
coping with trauma or loss.
unidentified or unmet special educational needs
Many children and young people worry about school. This is normal. Anxieties are part of life and learning to deal with them is part of growing up. When a child or young person’s anxiety grows to a point where their attendance is significantly impacted on, this can be termed as Emotionally Based School Avoidance or EBSA.
What is Emotionally Based School Avoidance?
What are the risks factors for a child developing Emotionally Based School Avoidance?
EBSA is hugely stressful for families, but help is out there. Expand the boxes below to learn more.
Tips to support a young person experiencing Emotionally Based School Avoidance
Tips to support a young person experiencing Emotionally Based School Avoidance
What is Educational Psychology?
Hampshire Educational Psychology Service have created a helpful guide for parents and carers to help them support their child or young person if they are struggling to attend school. You can access this guide here. They have also created a guide to help schools support children and young people who are experiencing EBSA as well. You can find this here.
Educational Psychology Helpline
Our confidential telephone line is a free way for parents and carers in Hampshire to access information from Educational Psychologists. We are on hand to talk through the problems facing you and your child, whether that’s by listening to you think aloud, giving you helpful strategies, or signposting you to other contacts or services.
Both schools and parents can call the Educational Psychology helpline to get advice from an experienced Educational Psychologist. This may be useful if you have tried the strategies in their guide and are stuck on what to do next.
The helpline is open Wednesday and Thursday 9.30am to 11am, term time only.
When you call, a member of the Educational Psychology support team will take your details and then ask an EP to ring you back. Phone calls typically last about 15 to 20 minutes.
What is Educational Psychology?
Hampshire Educational Psychology Service have created a helpful guide for parents and carers to help them support their child or young person if they are struggling to attend school. You can access this guide here. They have also created a guide to help schools support children and young people who are experiencing EBSA as well. You can find this here.
Educational Psychology Helpline
Our confidential telephone line is a free way for parents and carers in Hampshire to access information from Educational Psychologists. We are on hand to talk through the problems facing you and your child, whether that’s by listening to you think aloud, giving you helpful strategies, or signposting you to other contacts or services.
Both schools and parents can call the Educational Psychology helpline to get advice from an experienced Educational Psychologist. This may be useful if you have tried the strategies in their guide and are stuck on what to do next.
The helpline is open Wednesday and Thursday 9.30am to 11am, term time only.
When you call, a member of the Educational Psychology support team will take your details and then ask an EP to ring you back. Phone calls typically last about 15 to 20 minutes.
If your child is experiencing difficulties with their attendance, the first thing to do is to arrange a meeting with their school.
Build strong relationships and work jointly with families, listening to and understanding barriers to attendance and working in partnership with families to remove them.
Develop and maintain a whole school culture that promotes the benefits of high attendance.
Have a clear school attendance policy which all staff, pupils and parents understand.
Accurately complete admission and, with the exception of schools where all pupils are boarders, attendance registers and have effective day to day processes in place to follow-up absence.
Regularly monitor and analyse attendance and absence data to identify pupils or cohorts that require support with their attendance and put effective strategies in place.
Share information and work collaboratively with other schools in the area, local authorities, and other partners where a pupil’s absence is at risk of becoming persistent or severe.
Be particularly mindful of pupils absent from school due to mental or physical ill health or their special educational needs and/or disabilities, and provide them with additional support.
The Working Together to Improve Attendance Guidance makes it clear that schools must:
Treat all pupils and parents with dignity and staff should model respectful relationships to build a positive relationship between home and school that can be the foundation of good attendance.
Where a pupil or family needs support with attendance, it is important that the best placed person in the school works alongside and supports the family and wherever possible the person should be kept consistent.
Listen to and understand the barriers to attendance the pupil or family is experiencing. In doing so, schools should take into consideration the sensitivity of some of the reasons for absence and understand the importance of school as a place of safety and support rather than reaching immediately for punitive approaches.
Support pupils and parents by working together to address any in-school barriers to attendance.
Where barriers are outside of the school’s control, all partners should work together to support pupils and parents to access any support they may need voluntarily.
As a minimum, this should include meeting with pupils at risk of persistent or severe absence and their parents to understand barriers to being in school and agreeing actions or interventions to address them. This may include referrals to services and organisations that can provide support. These actions should be regularly discussed and reviewed together with pupils and families.
If your child is experiencing difficulties with their attendance, the first thing to do is to arrange a meeting with their school.
Build strong relationships and work jointly with families, listening to and understanding barriers to attendance and working in partnership with families to remove them.
Develop and maintain a whole school culture that promotes the benefits of high attendance.
Have a clear school attendance policy which all staff, pupils and parents understand.
Accurately complete admission and, with the exception of schools where all pupils are boarders, attendance registers and have effective day to day processes in place to follow-up absence.
Regularly monitor and analyse attendance and absence data to identify pupils or cohorts that require support with their attendance and put effective strategies in place.
Share information and work collaboratively with other schools in the area, local authorities, and other partners where a pupil’s absence is at risk of becoming persistent or severe.
Be particularly mindful of pupils absent from school due to mental or physical ill health or their special educational needs and/or disabilities, and provide them with additional support.
The Working Together to Improve Attendance Guidance makes it clear that schools must:
Treat all pupils and parents with dignity and staff should model respectful relationships to build a positive relationship between home and school that can be the foundation of good attendance.
Where a pupil or family needs support with attendance, it is important that the best placed person in the school works alongside and supports the family and wherever possible the person should be kept consistent.
Listen to and understand the barriers to attendance the pupil or family is experiencing. In doing so, schools should take into consideration the sensitivity of some of the reasons for absence and understand the importance of school as a place of safety and support rather than reaching immediately for punitive approaches.
Support pupils and parents by working together to address any in-school barriers to attendance.
Where barriers are outside of the school’s control, all partners should work together to support pupils and parents to access any support they may need voluntarily.
As a minimum, this should include meeting with pupils at risk of persistent or severe absence and their parents to understand barriers to being in school and agreeing actions or interventions to address them. This may include referrals to services and organisations that can provide support. These actions should be regularly discussed and reviewed together with pupils and families.
If this approach does not work schools should reach out to the local authority and other relevant partners such as the Family Support Service.
If parents do not engage with them, schools should hold more formal conversations with the parents (and pupil where they are old enough to understand). This is likely to be led by the school’s senior attendance champion and may include the school’s point of contact in the local authority School Attendance Support Team.
These meetings should clearly explain the consequences of persistent and severe absence to the pupil and family and the potential need for legal intervention in future, but should also be an opportunity to continue to listen to and understand the barriers to attendance and explain the help that is available to avoid those consequences.
If this approach does not work schools should reach out to the local authority and other relevant partners such as the Family Support Service.
If parents do not engage with them, schools should hold more formal conversations with the parents (and pupil where they are old enough to understand). This is likely to be led by the school’s senior attendance champion and may include the school’s point of contact in the local authority School Attendance Support Team.
These meetings should clearly explain the consequences of persistent and severe absence to the pupil and family and the potential need for legal intervention in future, but should also be an opportunity to continue to listen to and understand the barriers to attendance and explain the help that is available to avoid those consequences.
If absence is long-term or repeated, schools may request proof that your child is genuinely unwell and unable to attend school as this is a key part of their safeguarding duties. Keep copies of any appointment letters or medical reports.
If your child:
has a long term or chronic condition, and is expected to be absent from school for a longer period
has intermittent attendance due to an illness (such as epilepsy or sickle cell anaemia)
is going to be absent from school for a period of therapy or surgery
The school may want to draw up a support plan with you, and consider whether to refer your child to our specialist services.
Education for pupils who are unable to attend school because of medical needs can be provided for in the following ways:
children who are in-patients of most hospitals will be taught through the in-hospital teaching service
children who are not in-patients, will have a plan of education agreed between school, parent/carer and the local authority.
Children who are admitted to NHS hospitals (including psychiatric units) in other areas should receive education through local hospitals, schools or an education centre. Please discuss this with your child’s school in the first instance.
If absence is long-term or repeated, schools may request proof that your child is genuinely unwell and unable to attend school as this is a key part of their safeguarding duties. Keep copies of any appointment letters or medical reports.
If your child:
has a long term or chronic condition, and is expected to be absent from school for a longer period
has intermittent attendance due to an illness (such as epilepsy or sickle cell anaemia)
is going to be absent from school for a period of therapy or surgery
The school may want to draw up a support plan with you, and consider whether to refer your child to our specialist services.
Education for pupils who are unable to attend school because of medical needs can be provided for in the following ways:
children who are in-patients of most hospitals will be taught through the in-hospital teaching service
children who are not in-patients, will have a plan of education agreed between school, parent/carer and the local authority.
Children who are admitted to NHS hospitals (including psychiatric units) in other areas should receive education through local hospitals, schools or an education centre. Please discuss this with your child’s school in the first instance.
