Working collectively to sort out attendance in rural communities

Faculties have been sharing day by day attendance knowledge with DfE and making use of the Monitor Your College Attendance (MYSA) service – a free, safe device that helps them visualise the info and monitor, handle and enhance pupil attendance.

Deputy head, Michael Bourne makes use of MYSA knowledge to sort out absence in a rural neighborhood  

I’m Mike, deputy head at a main faculty. I’ve been utilizing DfE’s MYSA service to assist me have conversations with mother and father and workers about attendance.  

My faculty 

Being a part of a small faculty comes with its personal set of benefits. We all know every little one personally and we have got a very good relationship with mother and father. My attendance technique could be very a lot a people-driven course of. I’ve significant conversations that give me the context that knowledge alone doesn’t. It is a mix of knowledge, conversations and dedication. 

How I take advantage of the service in practise 

I take advantage of a mixture of the DfE’s knowledge and our college Administration Info System to analyse attendance knowledge and look out for rising points. My major focus is recognizing persistent absence and understanding the explanations behind it. I’m additionally concerned with recognizing those that would possibly develop into persistently absent to verify they get additional help in the event that they want it. 

The information on potential attendance points prompts conversations with colleagues and fogeys. These conversations give a fuller general image of attendance. I’ve the perception from the info and the context from speaking to oldsters. 

The MYSA service is a straightforward option to view knowledge. The format is straightforward, and it offers you the important thing data up-front on one display screen. It’s a stay system, it’s clear and you’ll drill down into the info. It’s consumer pleasant, you may navigate all of it and do comparisons.   

Head instructor, Samantha Reed, saves herself time by utilizing DfE’s MYSA service 

I’m Sam, an assistant head and SENCO at a rural secondary faculty. My faculty is in a rural space with a various cohort of pupils. It’s a giant farming neighborhood with 17 feeder main faculties.  

My faculty 

Pupils dwelling in rural areas brings an entire vary of further challenges for attendance. Transport and journey lengths is a key consideration for some pupils. College students would possibly miss the bus or their father or mother’s automobile might be within the storage. They may rise up within the morning and really feel a unwell, so that they keep at house as a result of the concept of choosing up a sick little one is a major barrier.  

We’ve additionally struggled with attitudes in the direction of attendance for the reason that Covid-19 pandemic. Individuals have been being informed to remain off with a sore throat, and we’re now working arduous to clarify that that is not acceptable.  

How utilizing the service has helped us help our pupils 

Having all the important thing details about a pupil’s attendance knowledge on one web page has actually inspired me to dig deeper once I must. It’s nice that it’s there in black and white, on a single web page.  

It’s notably helpful to see what number of days it’s been since a pupil was final absence, like a counter. It helps me establish when a pupil’s attendance dipped due to an sickness, in comparison with those that are repeatedly absent. I used to must depend this up utilizing our Administration Info System (MIS), so it’s nice to have this in entrance of me.  

Getting persistent absence and extreme absent figures saves me plenty of time and is admittedly essential for supporting absent pupils early within the yr.  

Discover out extra in regards to the Monitor Your College Attendance service and the way your faculty can profit.