The Department for Education (DfE) has confirmed its rules around missing school for illness, with each mainstream state school set to receive a specialised target from September. The move comes as the Labour Party government attempts to clamp down on absences, with illness accounting for half of all missed days last year.
Illness remains the biggest driver of school absence
In fresh guidance, the DfE states: "Insight - Illness is the biggest single driver of school absence, contributing to half of all absence, and rates remain 50 per cent higher than pre-Covid." The guidance advises schools to share NHS guidance with parents to reinforce that pupils with a cold or minor illness, as well as children feeling anxious or worried, can usually attend.
Some schools have found success by introducing simple systems, such as an 'Under the weather' form to enable parents to inform the school if a pupil is slightly unwell so that staff can monitor and support them during the day.
Preventative measures and mental health support
The DfE also encourages schools to promote simple, preventative measures across the school to reduce the spread of infection. These include opening windows between lessons to ventilate the room and regular hand washing. The guidance states: "This should be encouraged routinely but be boosted during periods of seasonal illness or other outbreaks."
Schools are also urged to reinforce messages that attending school can support children's mental health and wellbeing. The DfE advises: "Work to identify anxiety-related barriers as soon as possible and take early, practical steps to address these, including working with pastoral teams and external services where appropriate."
Attendance and Behaviour Hubs launched
Jayne Lowe OBE, Attendance and Behaviour Ambassador, wrote in the guidance's foreword: "In this toolkit you will find case studies from a diverse range of schools. Each of the schools included has unique circumstances and different approaches to establishing and maintaining good attendance. What they all have in common is a smart approach to data."
Lowe highlighted the DfE's Monitor Your School Attendance service, which allows schools to access banded attendance data by year group to see the distribution of absence and target efforts where they can have the greatest impact. The service also includes an explore your attendance patterns heatmap function to understand where attendance is higher or lower across the current and previous academic year.
Secondary schools can access Year 6 transition data for their current and incoming Year 7 cohorts to identify pupils who may be most vulnerable to dropoff following the "new school effect" on attendance. Lowe added: "Much of the content in this toolkit reflects our broader evolving support offer for schools. Central to this offer is the launch of Attendance and Behaviour (A&B) Hubs, which I am delighted to lead. The Hubs programme is designed to provide focused and intensive support to the schools who need it most."
Each Hub, led by a 'lead school' with demonstrably strong attendance and behaviour practice, provides structured opportunities for bespoke peer-to-peer support, co-created action plans, collaborative problem-solving, and regional capacity building.
