Attendance

The latest news and professional advice on school attendance, including analysis of attendance data and shared practice on tackling pupil absence and internal truancy

Wednesday

20th Aug 2025

Disadvantaged white pupils have ‘particularly poor’ outcomes
Educational inequality has become ‘more pronounced’ since Covid, warns report highlighting the low attainment of disadvantaged white pupils
Disadvantaged white pupils have 'particularly poor' education outcomes, says research

Tuesday

12th Aug 2025

School absence ‘most damaging’ in transition period
Pupil absence because of illness is just as detrimental to academic achievement as unauthorised absence, according to new research
Wellbeing absence child sitting on bench

Monday

11th Aug 2025

How to help struggling pupils back to school
Two projects in Scotland demonstrate the power of counselling in the community to address emotionally based school avoidance, says Fiona McFarlane
Girl at school fence

Thursday

7th Aug 2025

School attendance improves but ‘still a long way to go’
Official figures show a year-on-year rise in pupil attendance, but severe absence remains on an ‘alarmingly upward trajectory’, warns the Centre for Social Justice
Stacks of chairs

Tuesday

22nd Jul 2025

Absence fines are ‘Dickensian’, MPs told
Experts today answered Commons committee’s questions about addressing low school attendance – here’s what we learned
School attendance: Absence fines are 'Dickensian', MPs have been told
5 top Tes articles on pastoral care
This summer we’re rounding up some of our most popular recent features on different education topics. Here are our top five reads on student mental health and pastoral care
Tes' top five articles on pastoral care in schools

Thursday

10th Jul 2025

Suspensions and exclusions reach ‘shocking’ record highs in 2023-24
State school suspensions near 1 million and set a new peak as exclusions cross 10,000 threshold
Empty chair in classroom

Friday

4th Jul 2025

DfE misses its deadline for key attendance and behaviour roles
Two ‘ambassadors’ who will oversee the merged attendance and behaviour hubs were due to start today, but the DfE has made no announcement
Hand pointing at alarm clock
Exclusive

Wednesday

2nd Jul 2025

Just 19 people show interest in the DfE’s ambassador jobs
The DfE is accused of ‘burying’ adverts for its new attendance and behaviour ambassador jobs, with the successful candidates, who are due to start this week, yet to be announced
Job vacancy sign in the dirt
Exclusive

Saturday

14th Jun 2025

‘Horror’ toilets make pupils ask to miss school, parents say
Poll reveals 1 in 6 school toilets rated unclean, amid calls for government to prioritise funding to improve ‘disgusting’ lavatories as part of school estate upgrades

Thursday

5th Jun 2025

Curriculum fuels pupil ‘engagement crisis’, warns Lift CEO
Becks Boomer-Clark tells Lords that students are ‘voting with their feet’ because school ‘does not match their needs’
Curriculum engagement crisis

Wednesday

4th Jun 2025

Phillipson: Leaders have ‘responsibility’ to boost attendance
Education secretary tells school leaders in Birmingham she wants more progress on pupil absence
Bridget Phillipson with classroom of pupils