Education Endowment Foundation:Supporting school attendance

Supporting school attendance

Build a culture of community and belonging for pupils.

An inclusive school removes barriers to learning and participation, provides an education that is appropriate to pupils’ needs, and promotes high standards and the fulfilment of potential for all pupils. Making sure pupils feel seen, understood, and safe is a crucial starting point for supporting attendance, especially for more vulnerable students who may have fewer protective factors than others.

Key guidance reports

1. Be inclusive by design, promoting positive relationships and attitudes

Creating a positive and supportive environment for all pupils means reinforcing a shared language, activity, routines and strategies throughout the school. Effective teaching and learning requires positive relationships and interactions between teachers and pupils.

“Creating an inclusive environment is the most important thing a school can do. An inclusive culture is a prerequisite for an effective school: it brings happiness, a feeling of safety and being part of the community, and, of course, it impacts positively on learning, both in the classroom and beyond. It is our job to prepare pupils to flourish and feel truly included in society.

“An inclusive environment does not come by accident, it is achieved through design. Furthermore, it is imperative that leaders embed this culture proactively.

“For example, we noticed that a few Year 7 pupils last year needed support with developing friendships with their peers. As a result, we set up some key forums for this: Fun Football, Games Club in the Library, UNO Club, Lunchtime Trampolining, Breakfast Club, Social Skills Intervention (groups during lessons and tutor time), and — the most surprising group that developed — skipping group at lunchtime! All of these became adult-supervised safe-spaces for the pupils to go to, particularly during unstructured time (break and lunch), which can be very challenging for some.

The impact was palpable as we saw friendships develop, confidence grow, and pupils’ happiness levels increase. Now our Year 8s are taking part less and less regularly as their independence grows but our new Year 7 cohort are taking advantage of all the opportunities available. All of these, alongside academic support and initiatives such as daily homework club, have seen a positive impact on attendance rates amongst SEND pupils as well as academic achievement.”

- Frances Steel, Assistant Principal and SENCo, Totteridge Academy

2. Promote positive relationships and active engagement for all pupils

Effective teaching and learning requires positive relationships and interactions between teachers and pupils. Research has suggested that teachers’ attitudes towards the inclusion of pupils with SEND are reflected in the quality of their interactions with pupils. A systematic review exploring approaches to effectively including children with SEND in mainstream classrooms found that teachers with positive attitudes towards the inclusion of children with SEND had better quality interactions with pupils. These teachers saw themselves as responsible for the learning of all pupils and had longer interactions with pupils with SEND, using this time to ensure they fully participated in the class.

An inclusive school environment for pupils with SEND is also beneficial for all pupils. One recent meta-analysis explored the impact of inclusion on pupils without SEND and concluded that such an inclusion policy resulted in a weak but positive impact on their academic outcomes.

3. Adopt a positive and proactive approach to behaviour for learning

Where behaviour is good in schools, it is easier for pupils to forge strong positive relationships both with their peers and with staff, which can create a more inclusive environment in which pupils feel seen, understood and safe. This is important not only for a positive and enjoyable school culture, but it is also likely to support attendance where absences or internal truancy may be caused by pupils not feeling they fully ​‘belong’ in the school.

There is strong evidence that a proactive, positive and supportive approach to behaviour will benefit all pupils and can reduce the challenging behaviours. This includes:

  • Encouraging and rewarding positive behaviour.
  • Explicitly prompting, modelling and reinforcing positive behaviours.
  • Understanding reasons behind pupil behaviour and addressing these where possible.

The general climate for learning can be improved through the explicit teaching of learning behaviours alongside managing misbehaviour. Several high-quality studies suggest the benefit of teaching learning behaviours and self-regulation. For more information, see Improving Behaviour in Schools, and the Metacognition and Self-Regulation guidance report.

The importance of teaching learning behaviours

Managing a child’s misbehaviour does not necessarily lead to that child learning: they may be quieter, but not necessarily engaging with the content of the lesson. Instead, research suggests that when children improve their learning behaviours, this skill set can improve both academic achievement and cognitive ability.

Pupils who are aware of their own behaviour, who can self-regulate and deploy coping skills, will be less likely to misbehave in school. Once such strategies have been developed and strengthened, they turn into essential life skills and help students to become motivated and determined to succeed. Behaviour-for-learning approaches can be supported by the evidence on social and emotional learning, self-regulation, and essential life skills.

The importance of learning behaviours
Ellis, S. and Tod, J. (2018) ‘Behaviour for Learning: Promoting Positive Relationships in the Classroom’, Routledge.

Further reading and sharing practice

  • Ellis, S. and Tod, J. (2018) ​‘Behaviour for learning: promoting Positive Relationships in the Classroom’, Routledge.
  • Lemov, D. et al (2022) ​‘Reconnect: Building School Culture for Meaning, Purpose and Belonging’, Jossey-Bass.