Schools to be set minimum attendance improvement targets

Schools will be issued with AI-powered minimum attendance improvement targets from this month, the Department for Education has announced.

The attendance baseline improvement expectation (ABIE) will be based on schools’ circumstances – including location, pupil needs and deprivation. 

The department is also using AI and data to give more support to schools to meet the minimum expectations, by linking them up with high performing schools with similar circumstances. These top schools will be identified within each school’s ABIE report.

Last year saw the biggest improvement in overall attendance in a decade, with the government overseeing 5.3 million more days in school and 140,000 fewer persistently absent pupils as part of its Plan for Change.  

However, 1 in 3 schools are failing to improve.

Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said: "We can only deliver opportunity for children in our country if they’re in school, achieving and thriving. That’s why I want every school to play its part in getting attendance back to – and beyond – pre-pandemic levels."

Research also identifies a significant attendance drop-off during Key Stage 3 as pupils struggle to settle in to secondary school life and emerging issues start to surface. 

That is why schools will now receive a best practice toolkit targeting these critical transition moments – like the jump from primary to secondary and Year 7 to 8 – giving them proven strategies to keep children engaged. 

Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders' union NAHT, said: “The reality is that schools are already working tirelessly to improve attendance, with many going way above and beyond what should be expected of schools every single day.

“The government issuing them with yet more targets will not help them with that work and is the wrong way to go.

“Instead of issuing targets from Whitehall, the government’s focus should be on providing the practical resources and support that genuinely make a difference – as well as investing in community services providing vital help for families with challenges in their lives which impact their children’s school attendance.”