A Guide to School Attendance (David Fulton Books)

Improving school attendance remains a contentious topic and is a high priority for the DCFS, local authorities and schools. Thousands of sessions are missed every day; a waste of money, resources and, most of all, of opportunity. A school’s practice is now subject to scrutiny as never before, with targets and standard procedures required. A Guide to School Attendance provides a detailed practical guide for school leaders and managers, teachers, Education Welfare Officers and other attendance workers in schools and local authorities.

New Registration Regulations have been force since September 2006. All state-maintained schools have a legal duty to combat unauthorised absence, to maintain a twice-daily attendance record for every pupil and have attendance policies and procedures ready for OFSTED inspections. These should define everyday practice in all schools but are not always widely known about by those on the front-line.

Ben Whitney draws together twenty years of education welfare experience to provide a wealth of ideas to benefit any school. The book provides:

• summaries of the legal requirements
• extended case studies
• Question and Answer sections
• group work activities
• model policies and procedures

Ben Whitney is currently manager of the Education Welfare Service in Wolverhampton and has written widely on education welfare issues including study material for the National Programme for Specialist Leaders – Behaviour and Attendance.