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Attendance news, events and contact information

Everyday Counts 1

Welcome from the Attendance Team!

Use these webpages and toolkit as they have been designed with you in mind to support you with managing whole school attendance this academic year.

The Team continues to be available on the duty line 01603 223681 or via email at csattendance@norfolk.gov.uk.

Recent MI Sheets

 

Attendance Service Network Events 

We use these sessions to provide local and national updates, an opportunity for schools to share and develop effective practice to support improvements in attendance and a chance to spend time with the Attendance Team.

Summer Term 

Thursday 13 June 2024 9.30am - 12.30pm

The network meetings are aimed at all schools, and for all school colleagues who have strategic/operational responsibilities for school attendance.

Please note network meetings are free of charge to all schools.  

These events will be held at The Inspiration Trust Teaching School Hub on Hall Road in Norwich.

Please book your place via the S4S Training website, if you need any assistance, please contact the team who will be happy to help.

 

Working Together to Improve School Attendance (2024) - Consultation with Schools

Further to MI Sheet 55/24 the Attendance Team will be working in partnership with schools and a range of professionals throughout the summer term to implement the revised national framework for the start of the new academic year.  Whilst some schools will feel confident to meet the new requirements, we have heard from others that they require additional support.  In order to inform our response to the changes in guidance, we would like to hear from as many education settings as possible and invite you to contribute through completing a short survey before the 17th May. You can access the survey here: link

The results of this survey will be used to inform the development of future support for schools in order to meet the requirements of the revised national framework for attendance. In parallel, we will be consulting with the wider safeguarding partnership to understand their contribution to this issue. 

The survey should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete and will be discussed in Targeting Support Meetings at the beginning of the Summer Term. If you have any questions about this survey please contact the Attendance Team at: csattendance@norfolk.gov.uk

 

Norfolk County Council Code of Conduct for issuing Fixed Penalties regarding School Attendance Consultation

The Norfolk County Council Attendance Team is writing to draw your attention to Norfolk County Council's revised code of conduct for the provision of administering Penalty Notices for school absence. The purpose of this code of conduct is to ensure that the associated powers are applied consistently and fairly across the Local Authority area and that suitable arrangements are in place for the administration of Penalty Notices.

A new National Framework for Penalty Notices for school absence is being introduced through changes to secondary legislation. The regulations will come into effect from the 19th August 2024. The National Framework aims to:

  • Make Penalty Notices more effective by ensuring they are only used in cases where they are the most appropriate tool to change parental behaviour and improve attendance.
  • Prioritise the support first approach by expecting support to be used in cases where it is appropriate and using Penalty Notices in cases where support is not appropriate (e.g. a term time holiday) or has not worked or has not been engaged with.
  • Improve consistency in the use of Penalty Notices across Englandby introducing a new national threshold at which they are considered.
  • Improve the deterrent effect of a Penalty Noticeby increasing the amount and introducing a new national limit of 2 Penalty Notices within a 3-year period to break cycles of repeat offending.

It is a legal requirement that all Local Authority's must consult with schools and the police in their area when drawing up their local code of conduct. We invite you to share your feedback during this period by emailing katie.griffiths@norfolk.gov.uk  

The Attendance Team will be hosting a webcast on Monday 13th May 2024 at 11am to talk through the changes to the Code of Conduct. You can book onto this event by clicking here.

The consultation period on the revised Code of Conduct will run from 30th April 2024 to 17th May 2024. Please be advised that we have no discretion on whether to implement the new National Framework, only our local arrangements. We look forward to hearing from you. You can find the Draft NCC Code of Conduct for issuing Fixed Penalties regarding School Attendance below.  DRAFT NCC Code of Conduct for issuing Fixed Penalties regarding School Attendance Aug 2024 (Word doc) [140KB]. 

Penalty Notice Fines for School Attendance are changing! Resource for schools

Following on from our webcast in April regarding the changes to the Working together to improve school attendance guidance and the introduction of the new National Framework we have created as requested an asset for all schools to use to support parents understanding of the changes that will come into effect from 19th August 2024. The new asset entitled 'Penalty Notice Fines for School Attendance are changing!' can be found here (PDF) [359KB].

 

'Everyday Counts' Attendance Campaign

Following on from our 'everyday counts' attendance campaign launched at the start of this academic year we have revised the campaign assets to be used through the rest of the academic year. They have been created for all to use to help parents understand the importance of school attendance. The assets have been created for social media, newsletters, and email use. The assets are alternate sizes for different platforms and GIFs for social media and can be found below.

We would be grateful if schools could also use these assets with families to promote these key messages. Please use #everydaycounts and #schoolattendance on social media posts and interact with posts on @NorfolkCC and @NorfolkLSCP.

Key messages

Suggested wording to use alongside the images on social media.

  • We hope you had a great school holiday/half term/break! Get ready to get back to school and make the most of every day.
  • Every day at school adds up, so make the most of it.
  • Remember, if you've got exams this year, being at school as much as possible is important. Every day adds up and will help you get the grades you want.
  • Every day at school counts, helping with learning, developing skills, and building friendships.

Please don't forget to add the link to www.justonenorfolk.nhs.uk/attendance to signpost parents to additional support and resources.

Contact information

Duty Line

The Attendance Team Duty Line is the first point of contact for advice and support.  This service is accessible for all schools to access advice and support regarding pupil specific concerns and whole school management of attendance. 

The telephone number is 01603 223681. This line operates during term time Monday -Thursday 9am -5pm and Friday 9am-4pm.

Other contact details

  • Email: csattendance@norfolk.gov.uk
  • Fixed Penalty Notice queries: 01603 222499
  • Court queries: 01603 223606/ 01603 224459
  • Postal address: County Hall, Martineau Lane, Norwich, Norfolk, NR1 2DH

Twitter feed

Follow us on Twitter at NCCAttendance (opens new window).