Attendance

Legal Proceedings Support for Schools

A Penalty Notice need not be served before any prosecution can take place. That being said, remember when initiating court proceedings after a penalty notice going unpaid, that the parent is being prosecuted for offence to which the Penalty Notice relates and not for the non-payment of the Penalty Notice. The offences are: The Decision […]

Penalty Notice Advice for Parents

Penalty Notice Code of Conduct (August 2024) National Framework for Penalty Notices – What you need to know. The following changes will apply from 19th August 2024: Penalty Notice Fines will be considered by schools when the threshold of 10 sessions (half days) of unauthorised absence (together or separate occasions) is met within 10 school […]

PostPosted: 2 Feb 2024Posted in HeadlinesThemes: Attendance, Education for all (Inclusion)

Attend To Achieve #SchoolTodayFutureTomorrow

January to March 2024 sees the launch of the national attendance campaign, what better time than this to showcase Suttons coproduced school attendance strategy Attend to Achieve!!! This strategy seeks to address the needs of children and families in Sutton by removing barriers they may face achieving good school attendance. Our goal is to ensure […]

Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions

The London Borough of Sutton’s policy for Educating children with emotional, wellbeing and health related needs who cannot attend school defines the policy, organisation, and arrangements for cooperating with parents and health professionals to ensure children and young people with medical conditions have full access to education. The policy identifies how the local area partnership […]

Accountability

Our objectives and delivery plan are overseen by the Strategic Attendance Group (SASG) who will meet every three months. We report to both the Local Safeguarding Children’s Partnership (LSCP) for assurance, and the Education Leadership Group (ELG) for accountability and strategic decision making. Feeding into the SASG will be a number of networks that bring […]

Our progress so far

Since the release of the Working together to improve school attendance guidance, May 2022, we have been working hard to bring about positive change and improvements to attendance. So far we have: What is working well Attendance is recognised as high strategic priority within Sutton with a Strategic Attendance Steering Group and a strategy and […]

The Priorities

Whilst it is clear that we need to improve rates of attendance for all children, particularly those who are persistently or severely absent, there are some cohorts whose experiences and circumstances may require an additional focus and include; The overarching priority is to improve school attendance for all pupils. To achieve these the following five […]

The Data

In Sutton we have 66 schools (41 Primary schools, 15 Secondary, 4 special schools, 1 special academy and 1 PRU, 4 independent schools). 17,901 primary aged children and 21,293 secondary age pupils including 6th form 2022/2023 academic year. Pupil Absence Rates by academic year for London Borough of Sutton Rates of school absence have increased […]

Attendance Principles

Sutton recognises that improvements in overall school attendance rates can only be achieved through a truly collaborative approach across the local area multi-agency partnership. A partnership that includes pupils, families, education, health, social care, police, community, and voluntary sector agencies all working together to bring about positive change using solution focused, restorative and trauma informed […]

Our Approach

Improving attendance is everyone’s business. The barriers to accessing education are broad and complex, both within and beyond the school gates, and are often specific to individual pupils and families. We recognise that some children find it harder than others to attend school and therefore at all stages of improving attendance, schools, and partners along […]