Effective strategies: Primary case studies
The below case studies from primary schools show the tools and techniques that have been used in their establishments to improved attendance.
Allan’s Primary School is in Stirling. The current school roll is 177 with 66 children living in areas of deprivation.
Why was the action required?
A poverty-related gap was identified regarding attendance at the school. When data was analysed, it became evident that many children, where attendance was a concern, came from a specific area of the school catchment. Following discussions with families, it was agreed that a walking bus would be established. It was developed to tackle the barriers around attendance and time keeping, and to provide support for some families affected by poverty, Covid-19 and the cost-of-living crisis. The walking bus is a targeted intervention for communities and families where a walking route is established, and children are picked up at their doorstep and they walk together to school.
What action was taken?
The walking bus started in October 2021. By supporting children, families and communities, the school's aim was to improve attendance and engagement at school and build positive, nurturing relationships with families.
A senior management team member and a school learning assistant (funded through Pupil Equity Funding) are responsible for delivering this intervention. The walking bus has a specific route that ensures children and families who would benefit from this support are collected from their home. This provides school staff with an opportunity to build trusting relationships with family members and each child. Being on the doorstep allows school staff to be responsive to family needs. Children who engage in the walking bus arrive at school early and then have their breakfast at breakfast club. This enables the children to feel ready for the day ahead.
What was the impact of this action?
Attendance figures dipped in session 2021-22 to 92.1% due to COVID-related absences, however, it has risen to 94% in session 2022-23. Analysis of average attendance demonstrates that children living in SIMD decile 1 now have a higher attendance (95.67%). This can be attributed to the walking bus strategy which has been operating since October 2021.
One child had an attendance record of 66% and through the intervention of the walking bus, attendance has risen to 94%. This has had a positive impact on attainment and the learner reported. 'Before the walking bus, I did not go to school much. Now I go everyday and I love it!'
When asking parents who used the walking bus about its impact – 100% parents stated that it was invaluable to their daily morning routine. One parent reported, 'The walking bus has been a Godsend as I wasn’t well, and I did not know how to get my child safely to school. Using the walking bus lets me know that she gets to school on time, and she is safe.'
Neilsland Primary School is in Hamilton. The school roll is 163 children with 109 living in SIMD quintile 1 and 2.
Why was the action required?
The school recognised that dress down days and Christmas fayres were producing patterns of non-attendance from families most affected by poverty. The impact of the cost-of-living crisis and identifying the hidden poverty within families residing in SIMD quintiles 3-10 were also contributing areas of focus. As the school engaged with a small test of change project with a target group of children it became apparent that a scaled-up universal approach was needed to improve the overall attendance of the school.
What action was taken?
A Principal Teacher (PT) of Equity and a Youth Family Community Learning officer were appointed between 2021-22. The PT leads on monitoring attendance through daily monitoring and a digital database that is updated daily by office staff. This, along with a monthly tracker and class registers identifying levels of attendance, assists in recognising developing patterns. As part of the universal approach to attendance, all staff use the information to adapt or change practice in order to support learners. Through this and family engagement feedback the school took the decision to implement various Cost of the School Day preventative measures and supports. These included:
- breakfast club (council funded)
- free extra-curricular clubs and after school activities
- uniform ‘rake and take shed,’ e.g., uniform, casual clothing, seasonal clothing, i.e., Halloween costumes, Christmas outfits/jumpers
- stationery stations in each class
- an open food bank – this is part of the rake and take shed, updated weekly
- food parcels
- supports through form and application completions thereby supporting family financial situations (supported by South Lanarkshire council wellbeing hub)
- reduced fund raising that will impact school families
- zero costed activities at any fund-raising event e.g., school fayre
- no dress-down days
- school grant applications
- ICT lending library to ensure equitable access to technology
- engagement with agencies to provide outdoor learning, stem, operation play opportunities
This is supported by other nurture approaches taken by the school:
- attendance is part of an ongoing school improvement plan priority
- morning nurture sessions to promote emotional wellbeing and soft starts
- wellbeing sessions for parents and child together
- newsletters with attendance updates and signposts to financial support
- youth family community learning officer implements a wellbeing focus on working with the child
- professional learning for staff – attachment, nurture, Barnardo’s taking care of the people I lead, emotional literacy
- staff buddies for children
- ongoing emotional check-ins
- regular self-evaluation with whole school community
What was the impact of this action?
SIMD quintile 1(Q1) overall attendance figures increased faster than in any other quintile. Q1 (50% of the school) and free meal entitlement (FME) children’s attendance rates rose by 3.67 percentage points (pp) on the previous year compared with an overall rise of 1.97pp for the whole school. As a result, the attendance gap between SIMD Q1+FME and SIMD Q2-5 (with no FME) narrowed by 2.42pp to a level of just 1.78pp. The LA gap between SIMD Q1 and SIMD Q5 was 5.02pp. The school are proud of the very strong progress in tackling poverty-related barriers to attendance.
Windygoul Primary School is a primary school in Tranent. The current school roll is 630 with 10% of children and young people in receipt of free school meals.
Why was the action required?
Since the period of lockdown and home learning, the school reported that attendance rates were falling. There were a variety of reasons given by children and families for non-attendance and an increasing number of mental health related incidents which impacted on attendance. Families reported that working from home made it easier for children to stay home on occasions when pre-pandemic they might otherwise have gone to school. The school sensed a change in attitude from parents and carers which reflected a more relaxed approach to attendance. The school felt that periods of time when the school building had been closed, as a result of lockdown and strikes, had contributed to this change. The headteacher also noted a particular increase in families taking holidays during term time.
The school recognised the need for a consistent approach and was ready in January 2022 to embrace the refreshed LA attendance policy which contained clear guidelines for schools. In September 2022, the LA also set ambitious stretch aims to increase average attendance.
What action was taken?
The headteacher implemented the new attendance policy and adopted a robust approach to monthly monitoring. At regular meetings between the headteacher and senior business administrator, the attendance for the month and aggregated attendance for the year is analysed. Children who have attendance below 90% for the month are discussed and professional judgement applied. Colour coding is used to support tracking. A standard, initial letter is sent by the headteacher and the relevant depute headteacher makes contact with parents with offers of support.
Support ranges from meetings with a member of the senior leadership team, meetings with the school nurses, support with routines or the implementation of visual timetables to support morning routine.
Where attendance does not improve over time, letter 2 is then sent to parents with further offers of support. The impact of the letters and accompanying offers of support can be seen in the data below.
What was the impact of this action?
The data evidences a decrease in the number and percentage of children falling below 90%, 85% and 80%.
- Attendance across the school has risen by 1.9% from 2021-22 to 2022-23
- attendance % 2021 – 2022 was 89.4
- attendance % 2022 – 2023 was 92.3
The data provides additional information such as that over the course of last session, attendance of children living in Quintile 2 was consistently lower than those in other quintiles at 89.6%.
In session 2023-24 so far:
- 47% of the children who have attendance below 90% have holidays included in reason for absences
- 24 children across the school were absent before or after (or both) the September holiday
- there are 30 children sitting at below 80% attendance
- there are 20 1st letters being sent this monitoring period with one referral to the Children’s Reporter
James Hamilton Primary School is in Kilmarnock. The school roll is currently 348 children and 29% of learners reside in quintile one.
Why was the action required?
The headteacher and newly appointed home-link worker utilised the available data to recognise and identify that there had been a four-year trend of declining attendance for both the overall cohort and for those residing in quintile one.
What action was taken?
A number of actions and approaches have been adopted to support an improvement in overall attendance and the attendance of those residing in quintile one. Approaches included:
- monthly attendance audit with home link worker (HLW) and HT
- when required communication with parents:
- Week 1: Home-link worker calls
- Week 2: Home-link worker calls and letters (bespoke letters)
- Week 3: Senior leadership team contacts family
- walking bus
- multiagency support
- extensive tracking and monitoring of data and supports
- revised school attendance policy
- 1 2 1 HLW pupil check-ins
- 1 2 1 HLW parent/carer check-ins
- whole family relationship modelling sessions
- structure, consistency & routine modelling sessions
- de-escalation & regulation workshops
Regardless of the approach the key successes have been regularly reviewing the data and the impact of any supports provided. This is underpinned by the positive working relationships that have been built between the school, in particular the home-link worker, and families within the school community.
What was the impact of this action?
Following a four-year negative trend in attendance for both overall and quintile one learners, there has now been an increase in attendance of both cohorts. Quintile one learners have increased by 4 percentage points to 91%. This is 1% higher than the overall cohort who improved by 1 percentage point. The school firmly believes that the time and effort spent on developing positive relationships with targeted groups of children continues to have an impact on attendance and attainment, as well as enhancing trust with families across the community.
Newark Primary is in Port Glasgow. The current school roll is 427 with 345 children living in areas of deprivation.
Why was the action required?
The school data showed that low attendance was impacting attainment. The school was also aware that current research indicated that anything less than 90% attendance impacted on attainment. The school data also indicated that the cycle of poor attendance increased as children moved through their school. The reported reasons for absences were varied.
What action was taken?
The school decided to focus on primary 1&2 children who, in the previous year, had attendance of less than 90%. They aimed to increase attainment between 5-10% for identified pupils. The principal teacher focused on building positive relationships with a small cohort of identified families. They took a no-blame, problem solving approach. Regular contact enabled them to have discussions surrounding reasons why children were not at school, getting to the root causes. They then created bespoke support programmes, designed individually with each family, based on early intervention and prevention to remove barriers to attendance.
Alongside this work, the school tightened up their tracking systems. Regular flyers were sent out which clearly showed how a child's attendance was progressing, including positive as well as negative trends. A few families commented that they preferred this communication as they worried about phone calls from the school.
What was the impact of this action?
Within the small, identified group they saw children achieving attendance levels closer to or above 90%. Only 1 child did not see an improvement in attendance and there was a variety of health issues they were aware of and will continue to support.
Children and families beyond the focus group also benefited from the ‘what is working’ approaches as parents were supported to remove attendance barriers. The school saw a rise of 2.7% from June 2022 to 91.1% in June 2023.
Parents were very positive about the support in place. One parent said, 'The school has really helped me to improve my child's attendance when I wasn't sure how to.'
Next steps
The school have commented that they have more to do but are confident their approach is working for their families. This session they will continue to focus on our Primary 1 and 2 to ensure their parents are supported to prioritise attendance. They will also extend their focus to our Primary 4 pupils as this is a group of learners who would benefit from this approach.
