Norfolk Children's Services Attendance Strategy - Attendance is Everyone's Business

In line with the expectations of 'Working Together to Improve School Attendance', Norfolk Children's Services Department has consulted with schools and a range of local partners to devise a strategic approach to improving school attendance in Norfolk.

This Strategy was first developed in 2022 to help the Local Authority, schools, settings and other services understand what we need to do to work in a more coherent way, making the best use of resources available, in order to ensure that all children and young people can make the most of the opportunities provided by attending school.

What has been the impact to date?

Overall attendance rates are improving in Norfolk, schools report confidence to meet the requirements of the National Framework for Attendance and the Department for Education (DfE) has recognised elements of our work as best practice in the Attendance Toolkit for LAs.

DfE data for academic year 2024-25 identifies some strengths as well as areas for development:

While Norfolk still has lower overall attendance than England, East of England and Statistical Neighbours, we have made the largest improvement from 2023-24 to 2024-25 of 0.57% of the group of comparators.
Persistent Absence (PA) at the secondary phase is below national. Special and primary phases for PA are above national average.
Rates of authorised absence across primary and secondary are higher than national, regional and rates of statistical neighbours.
In the academic year 2024-25, Norfolk was in the bottom performing 20% of LAs for both the Secondary Phase and in the bottom performing 40% of LAs for the Primary Phase for rates of authorised illness. Thereby suggesting that this is the area in Norfolk with the largest potential for improvement.
Severe absence (SA) data for 2024-25 indicates children with SEN Support, an EHCP and in receipt of FSMs are disproportionately represented in the SA cohort. 76% of SA children were in secondary school. Approximately one third of the SA cohort did not have an EHCP, SEN support or support from social care therefore further work is required to understand what planning and support these children have to address the barriers to attendance.

What have children and their families told us about school attendance?

We have undertaken a range of activities to understand directly from children and their families about the drivers and barriers to good school attendance. Responses reveal the importance of:

Positive relationships with trusted adults within school
Regular and proactive communication between school and family
Collaborative planning that is responsive to child and parent views
Early identification and support when issues arise
Flexible and practical adjustments to the school day such as lunch passes and seating arrangements

However, feedback highlights some of the barriers that children and their families face to access support. Some parents and carers have described the emotional, financial and practical strains that persistent and severe absence can place upon the whole family and the long-term impacts of this. Some families also expressed feeling alone, battling for resources and facing systemic delays; these adverse experiences often created frustration and a loss of trust in professionals.

Priorities for 2026-28

While collectively we have made significant progress over the last four years, improving school attendance remains a priority in Norfolk. The strategy has been updated to reflect learning from audit and stakeholder feedback and build upon successes.

The three main priorities are summarised below. Please click on the links to expand the section for further information about these areas of work.

Priority 1: Responsive use of data

Through access to contemporaneous data, the LA will have a clear understanding of the current local picture and how this compares to national trends. As a result, the system will be responsive to emerging need and LA Teams will respond to the data strategically, offering tailored support in response at a Zone, institutional and pupil level.

How we will do it:

Drive forward the live data feed to enable the use of contemporary data to target interventions and reduce absence
Embed the use of data dashboards to inform practice at all levels
Develop a clear system for monitoring all relevant data which outlines respective teams' roles and responsibility and frequency of the activity
Develop shared oversight of the use of part-time timetables to ensure effective and targeted work is in place to support children to access a full-time education
Share data and emerging patterns and trends routinely with school leaders and attendance leads individually and collectively through networks and in training
Support schools to understand and own their data, analyse it accurately, identify trends and compare it with the national picture, have a clear picture of the reasons for absence, understand their attendance profile, and have in place actions for improvement

Priority 2: Multi-agency responses to prevent and reduce severe and persistent absence

We will create a clearly defined pathway for schools, families and other professionals to support them to set clear expectations about attendance, identify and support vulnerable groups at all points of transition and respond to attendance concerns at the earliest opportunity.

How we will do it:

We will utilise the learning from the Department for Education Severe Absence Pathfinder Project and relevant research to revise current practice to create a multi-tiered system of support so that:

Tackling poor school attendance is embedded within our SEND and Inclusion Support and Family Help Models alongside universal practices and whole-school approaches that promote inclusion, wellbeing, and belonging for all pupils
Targeted intervention plans seek to identify and tackle the root causes of absence to prevent escalation
There is a multi-agency response for the most vulnerable learners where interventions have not supported them to access a full-time education
We continue to consistently apply the full range of parental responsibility measures where required
Co-production with families and listening to young people's voices are central to the model at each stage
In order to test the effectiveness of practice models, we will undertake some pilot programmes with targeted schools

Priority 3: Collaboration

Poor school attendance is more than one incident or experience; it is a result of a series of events, interactions, and experiences inside and outside the school walls. There are many stakeholders involved who experience and respond to the challenge of school absence in different ways, bringing different perspectives and approaches to change. Understanding how these factors and stakeholders relate to one another and identifying underlying patterns can help us look for opportunities to intervene early and reduce the likelihood of escalation.

How we will do it:

Continue to consult with schools, children, parents and carers through our audit work to understand the barriers as well as enablers to good school attendance and what they need help with to achieve this
Work in partnership with the Norfolk Learning Collaborative and local attendance networks to celebrate good practice and support learning between schools and/or groups of schools
Co-ordinate strategies and services to address barriers to education for children with SEND via Norfolk Area SEND and Alternative Provision Strategy
Engage with multi-agency partners to drive forward the ethos that attendance is everyone's responsibility and co-construct multi-agency approach to supporting severely absent children