Pupil Access & Support Service - Attendance Team

Allocation of Attendance Team Support Hours for 05/06, Referral Criteria for casework and Annual Reports to Schools:

During this academic year 04/05 the Attendance Team has been reviewing its ways of working with a view to providing more transparency to schools and taking into account DfES advice and guidance. This letter is to update you about the basis on which support hours will be allocated, referral criteria and the production of annual reports to schools.

Allocation of Attendance Team Support Hours for 05/06:

As you will be aware the DfES has been increasingly raising the importance of improving levels of attendance, as being a key factor in raising pupil achievement. The guidance we have been receiving from the DfES is that we need to prioritise our staff resources to those schools, which are facing the greatest challenge to raise attendance levels. In order to achieve this the Attendance Team will be distributing a higher proportion of the available support hours to these targeted schools.

Below are our plans for the distribution of support hours from the PASS-Attendance Team, during the forthcoming academic year:

Secondary schools

The DfES currently identifies two levels of priority schools. For the forthcoming year we aim to provide schools in the highest band between 14 - 20 hours of support per week, depending upon numbers on roll.

Those in the second band will be offered between 4 - 10 hours, again depending upon numbers on roll.

All other secondary schools will be provided with at least 2 hours per week, to enable continuing support.

Primary schools

As above, our highest level of support will be directed to the schools identified as facing the greatest challenge.

Hours will be distributed in relation to the numbers on roll, with a range of between 0.25 - 3 hours per week.

As in previous years there will be a number of schools, to which we will be unable to provide regular contact time. These schools will continue to receive their support as the need arises.

Our understanding is that the DfES will be updating the current list of priority schools this summer, following the annual collection of attendance data. Until this has taken place, we will be unable to provide schools with conformation of their specific allocation. We hope to be able to do this early in the academic year.

Referral Criteria

In order to expedite the resolution of referred cases, we have also reviewed our criteria for referral, in line with DfES guidance. A school can make a referral to the Pupil Access and Support Service-Attendance Team, as long as the school has previously tried to address the situation by contacting a parent/carer by telephone and letter, on at least one occasion. Please ensure that:

Copies of any letters that have been sent to parents/carers prior to referral, in an attempt to address the issue, are attached to the referral form.

The current percentage attendance of the pupil for the previous 4 weeks must be attached or included.

(Incomplete forms or referrals that do not meet the criteria may have to be returned to the school.)

The Criteria for Referral are:

1. When a child has 80% or less attendance or 20% unauthorised absence over the previous 4 weeks;
2. When a child has been absent for 10 consecutive days and the school has been unable to make contact. The absence should be marked as unauthorised absence;
3. A child has been identified as being of compulsory school age, but is not in the process of being registered at a school, nor is receiving a suitable education otherwise;
4. When there is concern that a child may be illegally employed;
5. ESW advised referrals.

Referrals from parents and staff from other agencies will be taken. Before any home visits are made or action is taken, a discussion will be held with school, when consideration will be given as to how the situation can be jointly addressed.

Annual Reports to schools

The Attendance Team will be writing annual reports for all schools during the summer holiday, which will provide you with details about the work that has been undertaken during the past year. These will be sent to Head teachers and the Chair of the Governing Body early in the new term.

It is expected that the reports will provide an indication of the priorities for the Attendance Team's work with each school for the next academic year. This information will be used as part of Service Level Agreements, which will be agreed with schools in September.