Our team of Attendance Welfare Officers provides support to schools within the Trust and they are in turn supported by the Trust Attendance Welfare Officer, working together with pupils and their families to promote and encourage excellent school attendace.

The Facts

• Pupils need to attend school regularly to benefit from their education.
• Missing out on lessons leaves children vulnerable to falling behind.
• Children with poor attendance tend to achieve less in both primary and secondary school.

Parents and Carers

• Have a legal duty to ensure that their children of compulsory school age receive a suitable full-time education.
• It is also essential that they encourage their child’s regular and punctual attendance at school.
• If a child is registered at a school then it is vital that they attend on a regular basis.
• The Government expects schools and local authorities to:
• Promote good attendance and reduce absence, including persistent absence.
• Ensure every pupil has access to full-time education to which they are entitled.
• Act early to address patterns of absence.
• Encourage all pupils to be punctual to their lessons.
• Safeguard all pupils.
• Work towards closing the gap for vulnerable groups to include PP, LAC,& SEND.

Attendance & Punctuality Policy & Guidance

To support schools in maintaining high levels of attendance, the Trust has an Attendance and Punctuality Process that guides and advises them through the process of addressing non-school attendance and what actions to take, to the point of referring the case to the Local Authority requesting them to consider statutory action. The guidance includes:

• A working process on how to escalate a concern through the use of letters, home visits and meetings and when it is appropriate to use them.
• Standard letters and documents for all eventualities (these can be personalised).
• Advice on how to discuss / review attendance on a regular basis.
• Advice on how to record all actions and the importance of this.
• Advice on first day calling.
• Advice on home visits.

The Attendance Welfare Officer for Tudor Grange Academies Trust

• Offers advice and support to the schools within the Trust with concerns around attendance, punctuality and welfare of pupils.
• Leads a professional attendance and welfare function that is integral to the management and delivery of services.
• Promotes and ensures that the TGAT Attendance and Punctuality Policy and guidance is followed and implemented throughout the Trust.
• Liaises with colleagues across the Trust in order to produce quality outputs, meet deadlines and provide a high level of assurance.
• Provides half termly supervision to those staff that oversee attendance.
• Visits each school within the Trust on a regular basis, building relationships and offering support when required.
• Liaises with the local authorities that the Academies falls within, to ensure documentation is strong enough for statutory action to be taken by them.
• Keeps up to date with the local authorities regarding their working practices and any changes they make to them.
• Keeps the Trust updated on changes that are made to the Education Act and guidance that is given by the DfE.
• Advises how the changes should be implemented and prepares and amends policy documents as required.
• Is available to assist with home visits and attend meetings in relation to attendance and welfare.
• Works closely with the DSLs and their safeguarding teams.