Analysing the impact of programmes, processes and interventions, to help schools do more of what works and less of what doesn’t.
Understanding
Attendance
Findings on the drivers of pupil absence from over 30,000 young people in England.
Released 18.01.2024
Understanding
Attendance
Findings on the drivers of pupil absence from over 30,000 young people in England.
Released 18.01.2024
Initial findings: the importance of belonging
We shared early findings from the Understanding Attendance project in January. The latest data release shares attendance data from 200,000 pupils, alongside surveys from 30,000 young people. The report shows some critical findings, including that sense of school belonging is a key driver of attendance across all contexts.
Pupils with higher attendance rates consistently demonstrate higher scores in Sense of School Membership questions compared to those who are in the bottom quintile of school attendance (10% difference).
There is also an emerging challenge of the ‘second transition’ from Year 7 to Year 8 that deserves greater attention. Compared to Year 7 pupils, Year 8 scored lower in all social and emotional measures related to attendance, and reported being more anxious. There is a more pronounced difference in attendance and its drivers between Year 7 and 8 than any other year group transition.
The Understanding Attendance project supports schools to understand the factors influencing attendance that matters most in their setting.
Owen Carter, Director of ImpactEd Evaluation
"ImpactEd Group's work shows the value of schools using data to understand the challenges children are facing and to scaffold necessary support. I welcome today's report which highlights some of the barriers which may prevent children from attending. This year, I am calling on everyone to make attendance their top priority."
Dame Rachel se Souza, Children's Commissioner for England
Why now?
Nearly 1 in 4 pupils were absent for 10% of school sessions in Autumn 2022, nearly double the position in 2019.*
To address this, we launched Understanding Attendance, a project helping schools and trusts to identify the underlying drivers of pupil absence in their setting, and supporting them to assess the impact of their interventions.
Understanding Attendance provides the tools to tailor and target your approach, and see where your support for pupils can make the biggest impact on attendance next year.
*https://educationinspection.blog.gov.uk/2023/11/16/improving-school-attendance/
Your attendance diagnostic
By taking part in the diagnostic study, over the next two terms you will be able to:
Understand the drivers of pupils absence in your setting using nationally benchmarked tools
Select the measures most relevant to your setting to create short pupil-facing diagnostic
Access live reports on our platform
Interpret and use your data with our 1:1 support to inform next steps
We believe that, when done well, meaningful impact evaluation can help drive meaningful decision making to support you to do more of what is working best, and less of what is not!
"Persistent absence levels have increased over the last year. The School Impact Platform offers an opportunity to use social and emotional measures to gain fresh insights into the wider context of pupils across the school in order to gain an understanding of the influences and drivers behind this low attendance."
Mounts Bay Academy, Cornwall
The project involves...
Phase 1: Understand the Drivers of Low Attendance
Over a two term period, your school will have access to a range of diagnostic tools that will provide a good understanding of the drivers of absence in your setting.
You will be able to benchmark data against national statistics, and access tools and measures that create a short pupil-facing diagnostic.
Just a few of our measures you'll access:
Phase 2: Evaluate the Impact of Interventions
Based on the findings from phase 1 as well as data from other schools and Trusts involved in the project, we will advise highly effective, evidence-based interventions to put in place.
With the support of the ImpactEd team, you will then be able to evaluate the impact your interventions are having on attendance rates across the whole school, as well as specific pupil groups.
Fill in the form to learn more about our
Understanding Attendance Diagnostic Project
Fill in the form to learn more about our Understanding Attendance Diagnostic Study
Discover the barriers to school attendance and the strategies
you can put in place to improve outcomes for all your children.
Discover the barriers to school attendance and the strategies you can put in place to improve outcomes for all your children.
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