Raising Attendance – A Holistic Approach That Works

Simon Addison

From 78.56% to 89.2% – A Story of Relentless Improvement

In January 2023, attendance at The Hastings Academy was 78.56%, significantly below the national average. Before we could even think about implementing an effective attendance strategy, we had to create the right conditions for students to feel safe, valued, and ready to learn.

Improving attendance starts with making school a place students want to be. Our first priority was embedding clear behaviour expectations and high standards across the academy. This meant ensuring that:

• Every lesson started and ended with calm and purpose.
• Corridors and social spaces were safe and well-managed.
• Students experienced structure, consistency, and fairness in their daily routines.

Once this strong foundation was in place, we turned our attention to attendance itself. Students will not attend regularly unless they feel secure, respected, and supported.

By January 2025, attendance had climbed to 89.2%, closing in on the national average. This improvement came from a whole-school strategy that ensured behaviour, learning, SEND support, and teaching all worked together to create a school worth attending.

There is no single solution to attendance, but a relentless, proactive approach has made the difference.

Strengthening Attendance Support – A Proactive Approach

Improving attendance is not just about getting students through the door. It is about removing barriers before they turn into persistent absence. The shift from reactive attendance management to real-time tracking and intervention was essential.

Tracking and Systems for Immediate Intervention

Thanks to an exceptional Power BI dashboard developed by Thomas Hilton, staff moved from chasing attendance reactively to tracking it in real time. This system allowed us to:

• Spot attendance trends and at-risk students before absence became entrenched.
• Provide pastoral teams with clear, usable data instead of raw figures.
• Ensure staff accountability for intervention, so no student was overlooked.

A More Focused Pastoral Approach

A major shift was moving from a vertical house system to horizontal year groups, allowing heads of year to focus entirely on their cohort. Each term, they provided detailed reports outlining:

• Interventions that had been effective.
• Students at risk of becoming persistently absent.
• The next steps needed to improve attendance.

Attendance was tracked daily, allowing issues to be addressed immediately rather than weeks later.

Consistent Absence Reporting and Automated Follow-Up

One of the biggest challenges was the inconsistent way absences were reported. With multiple channels, tracking and intervening effectively was difficult. We introduced:

• A single managed absence line, open from 7am, ensuring all absences were reported consistently.
• A commitment to daily home visits, reinforcing high expectations and ensuring direct engagement with families.
• Automated follow-up systems, so letters and concern meetings happened in a timely manner.
• Clear, consistent messaging to parents, combining firm expectations with practical support.

By centralising absence reporting and streamlining follow-ups, we could track trends more effectively and ensure early intervention.

Transforming SEND Support – Addressing Barriers to Attendance

A major challenge in improving attendance was ensuring that students with additional needs could access learning. Without tackling these barriers, persistent absence would continue.

We implemented a structured and targeted approach, including:

• A dual SENDCO model, strengthening leadership capacity and oversight.
• A careful reconfiguration of learning spaces, maximising support for students.
• The creation of Support Hubs, geographical safe spaces offering structured interventions to help students attend and engage.

The Support Hubs provided:

• Reading intervention to close literacy gaps and build confidence.
• Sensory circuits to support emotional regulation.
• Lego therapy to develop social communication and problem-solving skills.
• A range of bespoke interventions, tailored to individual student needs.

Alongside this, Suzy Wybrow provided Direct Instruction training, ensuring that students with significant literacy and numeracy gaps could engage with the curriculum.

At Key Stage 4, a dedicated provision known as 1066 was developed to offer students a bespoke pathway suited to their needs. This included:

• Functional Skills qualifications, ensuring academic progress.
• Vocational learning, with hands-on experiences in an on-site salon and automotive workshop.

By addressing these challenges, attendance for students with additional needs improved dramatically, ensuring they felt supported rather than excluded.

Strengthening Student Voice – Leadership That Drives Change

Improving attendance is not just about systems and intervention. Students are more likely to attend school when they feel they belong and have a voice.

We introduced a range of student leadership initiatives, including:

• A Student Council, giving students a meaningful role in shaping school life.
• Student-led improvements to lunchtime clubs and social spaces.
• Curriculum input, leading to the introduction of Health and Social Care and Sociology at Key Stage 4.
• A peer mentoring programme, where older students supported younger peers.
• Our first-ever school productions, including The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast, giving students confidence and new skills.

By embedding student leadership into the culture, students felt more invested in their school experience, which directly impacted attendance.

Looking Ahead – The Next Steps

The improvement from 78.56% to 89.2% is a huge step forward, but the work is far from done. Our next goals include:

• Exceeding 90% attendance and progressing towards the national average.
• Embedding sustainable systems, ensuring that improvements last.
• Expanding successful strategies across all year groups for a consistent approach to attendance.

Attendance improvement is an ongoing journey, and we welcome discussions with other leaders working on the same challenges.

• What strategies have worked in your setting?
• What barriers are you still facing?

We believe collaboration is key. If you are tackling attendance issues in your school, we would love to hear your insights.