Search results
- Attendance is defined as the amalgamation of student behaviors, policies, procedures, and protocols used for capturing the formal presence or absence of a student in a registered school system by an official school officer or system (Gentle-Genitty et al., 2015).
www.frontiersin.org/journals/education/articles/10.3389/feduc.2019.00161/full
People also ask
How can school communications improve school attendance?
How do you communicate a school attendance policy?
How can school attendance communication affect behaviours?
Why is school attendance important?
Jan 20, 2020 · Attendance is defined as the amalgamation of student behaviors, policies, procedures, and protocols used for capturing the formal presence or absence of a student in a registered school system by an official school officer or system (Gentle-Genitty et al., 2015).
- Ways to communicate with parents and carers about attendance
- Methods of communication
- Letters and emails
- Text messages
- Phone calls
- Face-to-face meetings
- About the research
When reviewing your school attendance communication policies and messages, consider:
•making sure communications on attendance are timely and regular - talk about emerging attendance patterns early
•using the child’s name with accurate data specific to them rather than generalising
•framing absences in lessons missed - a key insight from the research was that percentages can be less clear when describing the impact of absence
•that parents said new or surprising information resonated most with them
•using the school attendance data tool to identify the number of sessions or days a child has missed and any patterns in their absences
We expect schools to regularly inform parents and carers about their child’s attendance and absence levels. Working together to improve school attendance includes more information on schools’ responsibilities. Most schools already have in place an overall strategy for communicating with parents and carers on attendance. This should include setting expectations early (at the start of each school year), and regularly (during each term).
Sending accurate information about a child or young person’s attendance to parents and carers is essential if attendance messages are to have an impact. The school attendance data tool can help you to identify:
•the number of sessions and days a particular pupil has missed and any overall patterns in their absence days
•families who may need attendance support
An effective whole school culture of high attendance is underpinned by clear expectations. As outlined in working together to improve school attendance, schools should have a clear, written school attendance policy. Being transparent about school attendance policies, including the trigger points for attendance communication will help ensure a consistent approach with parents and carers. Consider regularly sharing an accessible version of your attendance policy with parents and carers.
Messages that are inclusive and non-judgemental are important. Where there are families who are proving difficult to engage, you should consider any additional needs parents and carers could have. Try different methods of engagement to establish the most effective approach. You may achieve successful relationship building with parents and carers using a combination of methods. Make sure you choose the right person to deliver attendance communications. This is crucial to successfully engaging parents and carers.
You will already regularly use this format to communicate messages to parents and carers. For example, to communicate important school dates. Good letters can play an important part in influencing parents and carers.
Thinks’ research suggests that email is the most convenient and accessible means of communicating less urgent messages, for example more general messages about attendance. Families prefer letters for more serious or important information.
You could also add these messages to your school’s website, perhaps as a newsletter. Adding a link to the webpage in messages to parents and carers will enable them to refer to previous messages.
You could also use letters and emails to signpost parents and carers to support services available within their local authority. This will provide them with a sense of wraparound support without it being individually targeted.
Social media may also provide useful and different communication opportunities to some but not all parents and carers.
Annex A includes adaptable example attendance letters and emails to parents and carers to save you time.
Regular text messages to parents and carers are an effective communication strategy. A study with Bristol City Council found that messaging parents of children with attendance below 95% increased good attendance rates by 4 percentage points.
Thinks’ research showed that parents prefer to receive text messages that are unique to their child. This helps them to prioritise reviewing or actioning anything within these messages. However, text messages will not always be the right way to communicate with parents and carers.
Consider checking your existing messages against our examples to strike the right balance in communicating with parents and carers. You can adapt these examples to suit the individual or smaller group issues.
You could consider sending text messages through online customer relationship management (CRM) tools. Willows Academy has examples of using CRM tools to send messages to parents. Some CRM tools have pre-set options which allows you to send positive messages which are pupil specific. This form of messaging can help build relationships with families and acknowledge progress.
Thinks’ research showed that parents prefer phone calls for personal conversations about their child. In-depth conversations to discuss and support parents and carers in their individual circumstances can help to safeguard pupils and families. They provide the opportunity to signpost parents and carers to local authority support services.
Selecting the most appropriate member of staff to make calls to parents and carers is important. If calls are of a personal nature, the member of staff should know the child or young person well and ideally have a relationship with the family.
Phone calls can give parents and carers the opportunity to share more personal details about their circumstances. They can help them feel more supported by the school. This can help to ensure honest communication between a parent or carer and the school for the benefit of the child involved.
You can also use phone calls to highlight actions you can take. For example, fixed penalty notices for absence and enforcement action. Having these conversations over the phone can help parents and carers to understand the severity of potential next steps. They also provide the opportunity to offer more support from the school.
Many schools already use this format to communicate messages to parents or carers. This includes when there are sensitive or serious issues to discuss and understand.
You may also want to consider a face-to-face meeting when you see a pattern in your school’s attendance data.
Consider using video calls where parents or carers may be unable to attend in person at short notice. This may help to:
•develop your relationship with parents and carers
•tackle attendance concerns early
Phone calls, video calls and face-to-face meetings all offer the opportunity for direct and personalised conversations with families. This is vital when establishing and removing barriers to attendance.
Thinks recruited 47 parents of children aged 4 to 16 to take part in this research. This included parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or on free school meals.
The research aimed to:
•understand their views on school attendance and absences
•understand their interpretation, understanding and engagement with proposed messages
•identify attendance messages that:
•resonate best for each type of absences (for example, low level illness, holidays)
Nov 6, 2022 · Over the next decades, reframing with respect to school attendance/absenteeism will involve (1) focusing on attendance more than on absenteeism and (2) reconfiguring fundamental definitions of school attendance/absenteeism and school graduation/completion.
Regular attendance is linked to improved academic attainment and is an area where parental input can be particularly influential at secondary school. Well-designed school communications can be effective for generating positive engagement and having an impact on attendance and other outcomes.
Brief: Family Engagement to Support Student Engagement and Attendance 3 • Investments in student and family engagement strategies are critical to engage in healthy and meaningful relationships between home and school and promote attendance. Learnings from Bright Spots This webinar highlighted EveryDay Labs, Parent
Improving school attendance is everyone’s business and, to tackle the challenge we face, we need to work together. The purpose of this toolkit is to provide schools with off-the-shelf products they can use to remind parents and carers of the importance of school attendance. The campaign strapline is “moments matter, attendance counts”.
Strategy 1: Motivate students to attend by forging positive relationships with each student and family. Strategy 2: Engage in effective attendance messaging (this page) Strategy 3: Recognize good and improved attendance. Strategy 4: Emphasize attendance at strategic points throughout the year. Engage Families at Teacher Conferences.
