GovernorHub Knowledge logo

How to monitor your school/trust's attendance strategy

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.

Last reviewed on 28 May 2025
School types: All•School phases: All•Ref: 45393
Contents
  1. What is an attendance strategy
  2. How to monitor the strategy
  3. Focus on disadvantaged pupils
  4. The strategy should be shared with parents/carers
  5. Check that short-term, medium-term and long-term goals are specific and measurable
  6. If you're monitoring a MAT-wide attendance strategy
  7. Questions to ask
  8. Continuously monitor and review your strategy to see how it's working

What is an attendance strategy

A good attendance strategy:

  • Is a long-term plan, informed by evidence and your school data
  • Focuses on the 'big picture' goal of improving attendance for all pupils
  • Takes a 'twin-track' approach, which allows your school leaders to simultaneously:
    • Be proactive and preventative, by putting in place early interventions before pupils get off track
    • Use targeted intervention and support for pupils with complex attendance problems

An attendance strategy isn't:

  • A policy or document to complete (you can read more about the attendance policy in our other article)
  • A purely reactive approach, e.g. 'firefighting' once pupils are already persistently or severely absent
  • A quick-fix. The results might not be obvious straight away, but with the right approach, a positive impact will develop over time. Think of your attendance strategy as a 5-year plan.

You can read more