Improving School Attendance: A comprehensive toolkit of proven practical approaches

Course introduction

Are you looking to improve school attendance and punctuality? 

Are you looking for effective interventions and strategies? 

If yes then this course is for you! 

In light of the recent Parliamentary Education Committee’s announcement that there will be a new inquiry focusing on persistent absence investigating causes and possible solutions to the growing issue of children’s absence from school. Now more than ever we need to ensure we are implementing strategies and approaches to manage and improve attendance.

This practical course is designed for all those engaged with improving attendance and punctuality. With the use of current research, guidance and models of best practice we will provide you with practical suggestions to use straight away back at your school as part of your improving attendance strategy. You will leave with a compressive toolkit of practical approaches proven to make a real positive difference to school attendance. There will also be opportunities to discuss specific challenges with the trainer and network with others.

What we will cover throughout the day

• Understand what research and guidance tells us about best practice in supporting positive attendance;

• Explore the implications of key recommendations of best practice in improving attendance;

• Unpick the importance of whole school approaches to improving attendance and what this looks like in a variety of school contexts;

• Look at ways to apply a toolkit of practical strategies to improve attendance in a focused and targeted way;

• Develop a range of effective strategies to engage and empower parents and carers to support improved attendance for their children;

• Leave with a toolkit of strategies, approaches and ideas.

Target audience

Attendance Officers, Education Welfare Officers, Headteachers, Deputy Heads, Assistant Heads, Heads of Year, SENCOs/ALNCos, Inclusion Managers, DSLs, Pastoral Leads, Family Engagement Officers, Behaviour Leads.

Trainers for this course

Matt Bromley

Matt Bromley is an education writer and advisor with over twenty years’ experience in teaching and leadership including as a secondary school headteacher and principal, FE college vice ...principal, and MAT director. Currently, Matt is a public speaker, trainer, school improvement lead, and a primary school governor. He also remains a practising teacher, working in secondary, FE and HE settings, and is the lead lecturer on a national ITT programme. Matt writes for various newspapers and magazines including SecEd, Headteacher Update, SEN Leader, TES, School Business Manager Magazine, Children & Young People Now, Attendance Matters Magazine, and School Inspection & Improvement Magazine. He sits on SecEd’s editorial board and co-hosts their award-winning podcast, as well as writes most of their monthly pull-out best practice supplements. Read more

See what others have to say about us

“What a fantastic course again from NSMTC. It really re-enforced how massively important having outstanding attendance in a school is. It also gave me some really good advice on how to achieve it.”

“Really enjoyed the course today and will go back to school with wealth of information and can’t wait to share with staff at work and start implementing strategies.”

“Extremely informative and very well presented. Trainer was engaging and given me lots of ideas to take back to school. I’m now even more confident in raising our school attendances.”

About the venue

Stay at home, get comfortable and enjoy our live interactive course via Zoom! You’ll receive the link a few days before the course date so you can get prepared (and excited) ahead of time.

Handy course logistics

• The course will run via Zoom from 9:30 am – 3:00 pm, however, the trainer will be available 15 minutes before and after the course times to answer any questions.
• You’ll receive mid-morning, lunch and afternoon breaks to re-energise.
• This course is designed to be interactive and inclusive. We welcome questions and discussions throughout and we want you to be comfortable and stress-free no matter where you join us from!
• Your course pack includes handouts, an M&S voucher for food, a snack, a pen and a notepad – we’ll send this to you before the day. Please note this is only for UK-based participants, international attendees will receive the pack via email.
• Additional links and information will be emailed to you before and during the course.
• This course is also available as an in-house / INSET training session at your school. Contact us for details.
• Please Note – the cost is per person