Attendance - Summer term update

 As the academic year draws to a close, we wanted to acknowledge and celebrate the progress made this year in relation to school attendance.  We know that schools across the County have been working hard with the Attendance Team to implement the requirements of national framework for attendance that became statutory last August. The DfE daily attendance data indicates are that attendance rates have continued to improve this academic year and are indicative of the hard work schools have been taking in collaboration with parents and carers.  

We will share further information when the figures are confirmed in the Autumn but wanted to recognise this continued progress and thank you. 

 There is still more work to do particularly in relation to severe absence rates which are an issue locally and nationally.  Over the summer we will be updating our strategic approach to focus on tackling severe absence whilst continuing to support whole school approaches through the core offer of support delivered by our Attendance Team. 

 Communication assets 

We know that the school community will be focused on the pending summer holiday and taking a well-deserved break, but we also wanted to tell you about some work we are planning in preparation for the first week of the Autumn Term to help you to do the same. Research published by the Children's Commissioner indicates the significant impact of absence in the first week of the Autumn Term and how critical that week is for getting pupils into school and settled into the school routine.  We have revised our local campaign assets to promote the importance of attending school running up to and including the first week of term.    

The assets have been created for social media, newsletters and email use and to be distributed to a wide range of groups and sectors across Norfolk to use over during the summer holiday to help parents understand the importance of school attendance. The assets are alternate sizes for different platforms and also GIFs for social media - you can access them from the drop-down links here.