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New government consultation on modernising school attendance & admission registers

As reported earlier this month, the number of children regularly missing school during the first term of the 2021-2022 academic year has reached almost 1.8 million. Improving school attendance remains a top priority across government. 

The recent white paper published by the Department of Education (DoE), Opportunity for all: strong schools with great teachers for your child demonstrates the government's vision to improve attendance rate by working together to support pupils and families, proposing help for parents to remove barriers of attendance. The paper also commits to improving accurate recording of attendance and sharing of this data in the aims of improving attendance rate. 

In a separate consultation, the Department of Education seeks information on what thresholds should be included in the new national framework introduced on the use of fixed penalty notices for absence. Read more about this in School attendance: improving the consistency of support, published following a public consultation in February 2022. 

The DoE is now inviting feedback from schools, academy trusts and local authorities on the two proposals. The consultation will run for 6 weeks. 

To read more about the government consultation, visit consult.education.gov.uk.

For any queries related to the consultation process email: Consultations.Coordinator@education.gov.uk

To ensure you are completely up to date with all of the proposed changes in the area of school attendance, and delve into recent research findings, including from the Education Endowment Foundation, into what works in improving school attendance, join our upcoming courses. See more information below. 

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