Useful links and resources

Here is just a small selection of websites containing practical guidance, information, research or evidence about persistent and severe absence that you may find helpful. Also, in draft form, here is something Skyblue has drafted as part of the Making Attendance Everyone’s Business Project. It contains useful links to information about a variety of interventions, activities and potential solutions currently found within the landscape of trying to address the root causes as well as the symptoms of persistent and severe absence. This document will improve over 2024 and 2025 as it becomes more apparent what energy and resources there are to focus on those interventions most likely to work within each context for children, young people and families in Redcar & Cleveland.

Solutions activities interventions checklist

Department for Education

The DFE has published an attendance toolkit to support schools to identify the drivers of absence and adopt effective practice to improve attendance. Download the tookit

School attendance and absence - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Working together to improve school attendance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Toolkit for schools: communicating with families to support attendance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Attendance - guidance for schools - YouTube

Mental health issues affecting a pupil's attendance: guidance for schools - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Support for pupils where a mental health issue is affecting attendance: effective practice examples (publishing.service.gov.uk)

DfE external document template (childrenscommissioner.gov.uk) – Attendance Action Alliance guidance for parents on school attendance

Attendance campaign communications toolkit for schools

Factors influencing primary school pupils’ educational outcomes (publishing.service.gov.uk) - Given the association that has been found in wider evidence between poor mental health and attendance for pupils of secondary age (Lereya et al., 2019), and between attendance and attainment (Klein et al., 2022), it is possible that reduced attendance may also play a role in mediating this relationship. (page 24)

Factors influencing secondary school pupils’ educational outcomes (publishing.service.gov.uk) - School attendance may play a role in mediating the relationship between experience of social services and attainment outcomes, and may thus be an important focus for intervention (page 41). A systematic review (Chen, 2016) examined the impact of parental chronic ill-health on children's educational attainment. The review showed that children of parents with chronic illness have poorer educational outcomes, associated with a range of risk factors including poor school attendance and disrupted and compromised parenting due to their ill-health (such as functional impairment, management of medical needs and treatments). Protective factors helping to mitigate against the impact of parental ill-health included higher parental educational levels, strong parent/child relationships and better parental supervision.

Further resources will be uploaded as they become available’ Please click Health and attendance to access information about health services and resources to support attendance in Redcar & Cleveland.

Making Attendance Everyone’s Business in Redcar & Cleveland

Useful links and resources

Department for Education

2023: The national inquiry led by the Education Committee

The Childrens Commissioner

Education Endowment Foundation

The Centre for Social Justice

ImpactEd Evaluation

Child of the North report on attendance

Redcar & Cleveland useful links and resources