The Cognus Attendance Support Team works alongside schools, families and partner agencies to improve attendance, address barriers to education and ensure that children and young people receive the support they need to access learning.
Our work is centred around four key areas.
Communication, Advice and Best Practice
We provide regular opportunities for schools to receive updates, access advice and share effective attendance practice.
Termly Network Meetings
Our termly network meetings bring together attendance leads and school professionals from across Sutton to:
- Receive updates on local and national attendance developments
- Share best practice and successful approaches
- Explore emerging attendance trends and challenges
- Access advice from Cognus and partner agencies
- Learn about support available for children, young people and families
We regularly invite services from across Sutton to provide information, updates and guidance to schools.
Find the dates and times for upcoming events
Attendance Newsletters and Resources
Schools can also access:
- Attendance newsletters
- Guidance documents
- Attendance policy resources
- Legislative updates
- Information on local services and support pathways
Find current and prious copies
Targeted Support for Schools
Every Sutton school has a named Education Welfare Officer who provides advice, guidance and support throughout the academic year.
Targeting Support Meetings
Allocated officers attend termly Targeting Support Meetings with their schools, using attendance data to:
- Identify pupils and groups at risk of poor attendance
- Review attendance trends and patterns
- Explore barriers impacting attendance
- Agree targeted interventions and next steps
- Facilitate access to appropriate services and support
These meetings help schools take a proactive and graduated approach to attendance improvement.
Find your allocated Education Welfare Officer
Multi-Agency Support and Partnership Working
Attendance difficulties are often linked to wider family, health, wellbeing or safeguarding concerns.
The Attendance Support Team works closely with partners across Sutton to ensure families receive the right support at the right time.
Working with Families
We work alongside:
- Early Help Services
- Social Care
- Sutton Virtual School
- Educational Psychology
- Inclusion Services
- Health professionals
- Schools and other education settings
This partnership approach helps identify and address barriers to attendance before they become entrenched.
Vulnerable Pupil Panels
Attendance Officers attend local Vulnerable Pupil Panels to provide attendance advice and support for children and young people with more complex needs. Find out more
Complex Attendance Panel
The Complex Attendance Panel provides schools and professionals with access to multi-agency advice and support for attendance cases that have become difficult to progress.
The panel enables schools to:
- Discuss complex attendance concerns
- Access advice from a range of professionals
- Explore additional intervention options
- Identify creative solutions to remove barriers to attendance
- Move forward cases that have become ‘stuck’
Find out more
Legal Intervention
Where voluntary and formal support have not been successful, legal intervention may need to be considered.
The Department for Education’s Working Together to Improve School Attendance guidance highlights the importance of using the full range of attendance interventions and legal tools, rather than relying solely on Fixed Penalty Notices or prosecution. Legal action should always be considered in the context of the individual child and family and alongside evidence of support offered.
Legal Interventions Available
The Attendance Support Team is responsible for:
- Notices to Improve
- Attendance Contracts
- Penalty Notices
- Attendance Prosecution
- Education Supervision Orders
- Parenting Orders
Schools should explore supportive and graduated interventions before progressing to legal action wherever possible. The appropriate intervention will depend on the circumstances of the child and family and the level of engagement with support services.
Further information about attendance interventions, Penalty Notices and legal processes can be found in the Attendance Interventions and Legal Intervention sections of this website. Information on the local Penalty Notice framework is contained within PN – CODE OF CONDUCT 2024 .
Explore Attendance Support
- Attendance Guidance and Resources
- Attendance Interventions
- Legal Intervention
- Emotional Barriers to School Attendance and Mental Health
- Medical Needs and Attendance
- Reduced Timetables
- Complex Attendance Panel
- Events, Training and Networks
- Specialist Services
- Traded Attendance Support