Attendance Matters Workshop
“‘The most positive thing I have seen to address attendance.’”
A workshop aimed at parents of primary school aged children whose attendance is persistently poor.
Standard approaches to improve persistent absence in schools have relied upon implementing a series of escalating interventions, ultimately resulting in parents being fined for their children’s poor attendance. Parents can find themselves in a situation where they end up being fined for their child’s poor attendance but have still not made a change in their behaviour to ultimately improve their child’s attendance. The Attendance Matters Workshop fits well into what schools already do, but takes a different approach. Firstly it recognises three vital ingredients to bringing about a change:
Parents love their children and want the best for them
The underlying issues that cause persistent poor attendance at school are often quite complex.
The younger the child the more influence the parent can have on improving the situation.
The approach focusses on schools being a welcoming place, that wants parents involved in their child’s learning and development, inside and outside of school. One aim of the workshop is to encourage a partnership between parents and staff, which may not always exist already. It highlights the common motivation between parents and school staff that we all want the best for their children and don’t want to do anything that would harm them.
The workshop uses video footage of children talking about why they like school, how it feels to miss school or be late for school, which has been filmed professionally to be emotive and challenging for parents to watch. It is an informal workshop with lots of discussion and opportunity for parents to give their opinions. This has been expertly put together and has been designed to be delivered to groups of about 10 parents at a time. The workshop lasts for 2 hours
This short clip is taken from one of the Attendance Matters Parent Workshop videos. The video was orginally put together in partnership with Sheffield Multi Agency Support Team, Watercliffe Meadow, Longley Primary, and Parkwood E-act Academy. MASH Productions produced the original video.
“‘When I first had to come in for a meeting at school about attendance, I walked down the corridor and no one talked to me, I felt quite intimidated and isolated. Then they told me I wasn’t doing a good enough job. It felt like they were talking to me as if I was a 12 year old. This workshop is completely different! There was lots of information, and I learnt a lot about myself and my own situation. It made me realise how my behaviour can affect how my child feels. It was very helpful.’”
Impact
During an initial pilot, parents of fourteen persistently absent students took part in the one-off attendance workshop. Of the fourteen students, seven were consistently below 80% attendance; and seven were consistently between 80% and 90% attendance.
The impact of the workshop speaks for itself. Eleven out of fourteen students increased their attendance. One year after the workshop, the average attendance of the eleven students who improved was 91.6%, compared to an average attendance of 80.9% for the same eleven students the previous year.
The biggest improvement was with six of the students. The average attendance of the six most improved students was 95.2%, one year after the workshop. The same six students had an average attendance of 81.1% in the previous year.
The workshop creates the space for parents to experience a moment of realisation that something needs to change. This can be enough to motivate parents to make the change for the benefit of their children. In some situations additional support maybe required for parents to make the change they want to. This support can be offered in the form of coaching sessions, either in person or over the phone. If you or your school would be interested to find out more, please get in touch.