Management Information Sheet
Improving Attendance of Norfolk children and young people: allocation of Attendance Improvement Officers
Pupil absence at Norfolk schools remains stubbornly above national and regional averages:
| Overall Absence 2009-10 | Overall Absence 2010-11 | Overall Absence 2011-12 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary | |||
| England | 5.2% | 5.0% | 4.4% |
| East of England | 5.1% | 5.0% | 4.5% |
| Norfolk | 5.2% | 5.2% | 4.6% |
| Secondary | |||
| England | 6.9% | 6.5% | 5.9% |
| East of England | 6.8% | 6.6% | 6.0% |
| Norfolk | 7.3% | 7.2% | 6.6% |
Norfolk County Council wants to play the most effective role it can in ensuring that school attendance is as high as possible. Attendance Improvement Officers work directly with all schools (including Academies and Free Schools) in order to achieve this.
There has recently been a review of the deployment of Attendance Improvement Officers (AIOs) and it has been decided that in order to support all Norfolk children the Local Authority Attendance Service will seek to work with all publicly funded education establishments, including Academies and independent providers that we have commissioned. This will be with immediate effect.
As part of the work, all maintained schools will have a Register Audit completed at least yearly. This will also be provided for other establishments if requested.
Attendance Improvement Officers' support to schools will mainly be delivered by the use of ‘Fast Track' to engage both school and the family to resolve attendance issues. If a school has too many cases for the allocated time, negotiation between the school and the AIO will take place to prioritise the meetings the AIOs will attend.
In the first half term of 2013/14 academic year all maintained schools will receive a similar service to the one delivered in the first half term 2012/13. Meanwhile, AIOs will contact the other education establishments to agree a service provision for the first half of the Autumn term.
Based on feedback received from managers of the Attendance Service, we believe there are advantages in cluster based working and we would like to explore this with clusters in the first half of the autumn term. Our desire is to deliver the attendance service with county consistency and local flexibility in partnership with schools.
To take this matter forward we will bring suggestions to the cluster leads meeting on the 10th October, where schools will be able to contribute their thoughts and agree a way forward, with the view of implementing any new arrangements as soon as possible.
For further information or to discuss further please contact: