Behaviour & attendance

We've worked with the Department for Education to pull together best practice for monitoring and challenging your school's attendance figures. Find out how to question your senior leaders and benchmark against local and national data.

Your school or trust should have a proactive attendance strategy that helps to drive improvement in the long term. Find out what good looks like, and what questions to ask to monitor the impact of your strategy.

Be clear on what’s in the guidance, and what's expected from you, when it comes to improving school attendance. Use our example questions to make sure your leaders are prioritising attendance and that your school/trust is compliant.

Alternative provision caters for children who can't attend school for a variety of reasons, including challenging behaviour. Your board can temporarily direct pupils off-site, so they can attend another education setting to improve their behaviour. Your school can also carry out a managed move to another school, if a pupil needs a permanent change. Find out about the requirements for both options, and your safeguarding responsibilities when pupils are in AP.

Understand when and how staff in your school can use restrictive interventions, including reasonable force – and get your head around the new statutory recording and reporting requirements from 1 April 2026.

Find out how to fulfil your role in promoting good behaviour as part of a whole-school approach. Help support a positive behaviour culture, and find questions to ask to monitor behaviour in your school.

As a governor, you'll most likely be asked to consider a suspension or exclusion at some point. Read about the procedures to follow when sitting on the governors' panel.

Learn when a suspensions or exclusions panel is required, the timelines for considering different types of suspension or exclusion, and who can make up the membership.

Find out about the types of evidence you can expect to see as a a member of a suspensions or exclusions panel. Learn how to use them to establish the facts and reach a decision.