Policy Insight Wales - School Attendance Wales Digital Conference

Venue: Digital Event, Broadcast live

Date: 30 Apr 2024

Synopsis: “It is now timely for schools to renew and re-launch their campaigns, refresh their attendance policies and review their strategy for improving attendance in the long-term.” *

Poor school attendance is a growing challenge across Wales. Barriers to attendance include mental and physical health issues, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) the impact of poverty and the pandemic. Recent statistics show that around one in six secondary school pupils are persistently absent in Wales. **

Details:

 

New guidance from the Welsh Government published in 2023 aims to improve school attendance rates across Wales.

Join us online this Spring for our School Attendance Wales Digital Conference  to hear directly from the Welsh Government on the new guidance and funding priorities to improve attendance rates across Wales.

With a varied and expert speaker line up, we will deep-dive into key areas of f#ocus in the new guidance, including prioritising learner wellbeing and mental health, early intervention and support, positive relationships and culture, effective family engagement and multi-agency working.

Schools are now advised to set their own attendance targets to drive improvement. What does an appropriate target look like for your setting? We will share practical tools to help you implement effective data collection and analysis.

Hear practical ways to improve reporting and monitoring, develop school attendance plans and provide support to learners to attend school. Where attendance doesn’t improve, hear about formal processes to manage absence and working with education welfare services.

Join us for the opportunity to learn from best practice, network with colleagues from across Wales, and strengthen your approach to improving school attendance.

We look forward to bringing you the full programme and speaker line-up shortly.

* Belonging, engaging and participating, Welsh Government, October 2023

** BBC News, September 2023

 

Key Points

• An update from the Welsh Government on their guidance for schools to improve attendance
• Developing effective school attendance strategies which are co-produced with learners and their families
• Recording and checking attendance
• Early intervention, effective family engagement and multi-agency working
• Providing tailored support for pupils including those with ALN
• Focussing on wellbeing and mental health support including Emotionally Based School Avoidance
• Taking an Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) aware and trauma-informed approach
• Formal processes to manage absence – parenting contracts, fixed penalty notices – and working with education welfare services​

Brochure can be provided in Welsh. Cysylltwch am y llyfryn Cymraeg – email events@knowledgeexchange.group 

 

 

 

URL:
https://www.policyinsight.wales/conferences-and-events/school-attendance-wales/book

Contact:
events@knowledgeexchange.group