School absence and attendance

We offer advice and assistance to help your child make the most of school through regular attendance.

Why regular school attendance is important

Children between the ages of five and 16 have the right to a full-time education that is suitable to their age, aptitude and any special educational needs or disabilities (SEND). Parents are legally responsible, under Section 7 of the Education Act (1996), for ensuring their child attends school regularly. This means on each day the school is open unless unable to do so due to allowable exceptional circumstances or if they provide them with education otherwise, such as elective home education.

The importance of regular school attendance cannot be underestimated. The more children attend school the safer they are from harmful risks in the community and the more they achieve. Just a small number of days’ absence can have a significant, negative affect on a child’s future further education and career prospects, as well as wider life chances.

The Children’s Commissioner’s report, Missing Children, Missing Grades (November 2023), found:

• 78% of all children who were rarely absent in both years passed at least five GCSEs including English and maths, only 36% of children who were persistently absent in both years and just 5% of children who were severely absent in both years reached this same standard.
• When pupils’ attendance improves, the likelihood of achieving qualifications at the end of school massively increases. More than half (54%) of pupils who were persistently absent in Year 10 and then rarely absent in Year 11 passed at least five GCSEs including English and maths, compared to 36% of pupils who were persistently absent in both years.

Reasons for school absence

There are various reasons why children find it difficult to attend school, such as:

• Challenges with school work
• Difficulties with social aspects to school life and a feeling they don’t belong
• Anxiety, stress and other emotional issues
• Problems with housing or transport
• An inability or unwillingness to follow rules and overstep boundaries
• Term-time holidays
• A lack of interest in formal, academic learning
• Issues outside of school (peer pressure, child criminal exploitation, child sexual exploitation)
• Peer pressure from school friends
• Changes with the onset of adolescence
• Bullying
• Family changes and circumstances, such as being a young carer, bereavement, separation and divorce

What parents need to know and do

There is information and tips to help parents spot when their child's attendance might be an issue.

• Your child is classed as persistently absent from school if their attendance is below 90%
• Your child is classed as severely absent from school if their attendance is below 50%
• Schools authorise absence or nor depending on the information you provide, and decide accordingly whether the reasons for absence are valid or not
• Make sure your child goes to school regularly (every day the school is open) and arrives on time to be ready to learn even if they have a low-level illness
• Talk to your child about their school day regularly
• Take a positive interest in your child’s work – their progress and challenges
• Keep in touch with your child’s class teacher, tutor, head of year, and school office staff regularly. Let them know in advance when and why your child needs to be absent for valid reasons, such as illness, and keep regular contact
• Support the school in every way you can and take the opportunity to attend parents’ evening and get involved in other school events
• Be aware of signs that your child may be missing school without your knowledge
• Help your child to be organised and ready to leave home to travel to school on time
• Make sure your child arrives at school on time to prevent disruption to their own learning and that of others. Persistent lateness can count towards unauthorised absence, for which you can be sanctioned
• Make sure you know what the school’s attendance policy is – every school has one and publishes it online
• If your child has been suspended or excluded from school, make sure they are not present in a public place during school hours or you could receive a penalty notice fine
• Ask the school or the Education Welfare Service for help if you are having difficulty with getting your child to go to school

Working together to improve attendance

We have a ‘support first’ approach. This means anyone and everyone working with a child, young person and their family should work collaboratively to find out what the underlying reasons for a child’s absence from school are. We want to ensure parents are offered and receive the right type of support, at the right time, by the right people, in the right place. It is important that parents accept the support available if any real change and improvement in outcomes are to be made.

Education Welfare Service

The Education Welfare Service (EWS) offers support to families of children attending a number of Wandsworth schools. The EWS has a team of Education Welfare Officers (EWOs) who are part of Children’s Services and work alongside social workers and Early Help practitioners, as well as partners in health and the police.

Working within a wider network of support services means the reasons for pupil absence are more likely to be identified and addressed early on so that children can make the most of the educational opportunities available to them.

Some schools directly employ their own Education Welfare Officer. All schools have their own attendance champion on the senior leadership team and an attendance officer, who usually works in the school office and is in contact with parents on a daily basis.

How the process works

The following provides a step-by-step guide to how schools, parents and professionals usually work together from the early support stages to improve attendance to sanctions as part of legal proceedings against parents.

Step one – Initial communication

Early on, when attendance concerns are emerging, a child’s school will get in touch with parents to let them know what their attendance rate is and offer support, whether from the school itself or from a service that may be able to help. At this stage, advice and support will be offered by the child’s school on a voluntary basis.

Step two – Informal action

If the child’s attendance is not improving with the initial support offered, it is usual for either the school’s attendance officer to write to parents and invite them to a school attendance panel, or similar type of meeting.

This meeting gives parents the opportunity to discuss what the underlying reasons are for any unauthorised absences. This meeting will also give the school and professionals involved with the family the opportunity to listen and learn more about what the barriers are to attending regularly and to put together an Attendance Agreement.

Step three – Continued voluntary support or intensive support

The Attendance Agreement should be monitored and reviewed within an agreed timescale set at the school attendance panel meeting. In cases where the objectives in the Attendance Agreement have worked to improve attendance, that may be the end of the matter. However, voluntary support may continue for a further period to ensure the underlying reasons for the child’s attendance have been fully addressed and barriers overcome.

In cases where the objectives in the Attendance Agreement have not worked to improve attendance, even when reviewed and adapted, it may be that the school makes a referral to the Education Welfare Service and an Education Welfare Officer (EWO) is allocated to work with the family to improve attendance, alongside other professionals able to help with addressing the underlying reasons for absence.

Step four – Formal action: Notice to Improve

Where support and extensive support by services have not worked, or have not been accepted by parents, a Notice to Improve letter may be sent home. The Notice to Improve letter contains details about the support the school and services have provided to improve attendance to date and includes a date on which attendance is expected to improve before the school refers to the local authority for possible legal action against the parent. 

Step five – Legal intervention: Court Warning

Should attendance not improve to any satisfactory level within the period under review stated in the Notice to Improve letter, the school may request the local authority to issue a Court Warning letter to the parent. In the letter, the parent is given a final period in which to improve their child’s attendance and failure to do so may result in the parent being invited to a hearing of their case at the local authority’s Borough Attendance Panel.

Step six – Borough Attendance Panel and sanctions

Where attendance does not improve to any satisfactory level after the Court Warning has been issued, parents are likely to be invited to the Borough Attendance Panel (BAP). These meetings are organised by the Education Welfare Service and held monthly at Wandsworth Town Hall.

The panel usually consists of three professionals from Children’s Services and the Metropolitan Police. The child’s school or EWO working with the school produces a BAP report, which outlines the work undertaken with the family to improve attendance to date. Parents receive a copy of the BAP report in advance of the panel meeting.

At the panel meeting, a representative from the school or EWO presents the BAP report. Parents are then given the opportunity to share the reasons why their child’s attendance has been irregular. Others working with the family are welcome to attend and give their view.

At the end of the meeting, panel members make a decision based on the evidence presented. In some cases, it is recommended that the school offers more support, with the understanding that parents will accept this support. The school may make referrals to appropriate and specialist services in discussion with the parent all working together to improve attendance.

Alternatively, the panel may decide that a penalty notice fine should be issued to the parent or that the case should proceed to magistrates’ court, in more serious cases.

In cases where parents have engaged with professionals and services, an Education Supervision Order (ESO) may be considered and applied for at the Family Proceedings Court. This involves part of a parent’s legal responsibility being removed and given to a lead professional assigned to work with the family for an agreed period on a number of set objectives.

A referral to social care may also be considered where it is suspected a child is suffering educational neglect.

Term-time leave of absence and penalty notice fines

Under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996, parents/carers commit an offence if a child of compulsory school age (five years up to 16) fails to attend regularly and the absences are unauthorised by the school. The Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 allows local authorities (LAs) to issue Penalty Notices as an alternative to prosecution that does not require appearance in court whilst seeking to secure improvement in a pupil’s attendance.

A notice may be served where a parent is capable of securing their child’s attendance but is failing to do so. This will be done in accordance with our Local Code of Conduct.

A penalty notice fine must be considered by schools where a pupil misses 10 sessions within a 10-week period. The absence period may involve any and all of the following: 

• Overt truancy (including pupils found during truancy sweeps where officials and the police undertake patrols in the community)
• Inappropriate parentally condoned absence
• Term-time leave without prior school permission from the headteacher
• Failure to return to school on the agreed date from a term-time holiday, which may also result in your child losing their school place
• Persistent late arrival at school (after the register has closed)
• Where pupils are found in a public place during a period of suspension or exclusion from school during school hours, including being accompanied by their parents

A parent can be issued with up to two penalty notice fines within a three-year period.

The charge for the first offence is £80 per child/per parent if paid within 21 days, doubling to £160 if paid within 28 days.

The charge for the second offence is £160.

Failure to pay a penalty notice fine may result in prosecution.

Should there be a third such offence within the three-year period, alternative sanctions will be considered, such as:

• Prosecution at Magistrates’ Court with a maximum fine of £2,500
• An Education Supervision Order, whereby part of parental responsibility is removed and given to a professional assigned to provide intensive support for a set period of time
• A Parenting Order, whereby the parent must attend a parenting course
• A referral to social care in cases where it is suspected that a child is suffering from educational neglect
• A combination of the above

Contact 

Parents can get in touch about attendance matters with the Education Welfare Officer (EWO) for their child’s school via the school office.

Alternatively, the EWS can be contacted directly at EWSAdmin@wandsworth.gov.uk or on 020 8871 8306. Queries will be forwarded to the most appropriate member of the team.