Attendance

Behaviour

Secondary

Using the carrot and stick approach to improve attendance

When Jill Hislop arrived at Haywood school in Nottingham as the new headteacher, attendance and punctuality were poor and many children felt school was not for them. Today, thanks to an American programme called Consistency Management and Co-operative Discipline (CMCS) the school has one of the fastest rates of improvement in the country. This turn around has taken three years and involved changing the whole school ethos with CMCS. A whole school approach to attendance and punctuality is now in place with careful use of carrots and sticks. In this programme Jill Hislop explains the system and the need to create a positive environment to attract and engage pupils. Electronic registration, first day calling to parents and a "late gate" have all made a substantial difference. Furthermore, an improved curriculum has helped engage less academic pupils and a system of reward cards has proved popular. However, despite the improvement, Jill Hislop is constantly on the alert and aware that there is still a lot more to do.

Attendance and Punctuality: Carrots and Sticks

How the Karrot Rewards scheme improves attendance in Southwark

The Karrot Rewards scheme was set up in 2001 after a police report said that truanting kids in Southwark, London felt bored, unappreciated and saw school as irrelevant. The Karrot scheme is funded by the police and Southwark Council, and it distributes rewards for good attendance to the local secondary schools. In this programme Lisa Cole, the scheme's manager, explains how it works and why they are trying to reach a wider range of pupils by awarding improved attendance and good citizenship. Karrot also runs an internet bus. This visits deprived pockets of Southwark each night to get young people interested in education and help improve police relationships in the community. The deputy head of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic School, Sergei Cefai, also talks about the success of the rewards scheme and plays host to their end-of-term awards ceremony. Pupils get the opportunity to give their views during the programme and Lisa raises the issue of getting all her schools to follow the scheme consistently.

Attendance and Punctuality: Rewarding Attendance

A parent support advisor talks about her work

A parent support advisor talks about the common issues affecting student's attendance at secondary school, and discusses ways of working with families to support them. Stavey Primus speaks about real life examples from her work at Eastbury Comprehensive School, where everything from parental anxiety to worries over appearance and friendship groups, can cause absence. This short video demonstrates examples of the important work parent support advisers do to assist schools and families.

Common issues for Secondary Parent Support Advisors (PSAs)

A school shows how it has improved attendance levels

Stepney Green School in Tower Hamlets, London, demonstrates how it has overcome truancy problems. In 2001 Stepney Green School in was included in a list of the thirty worst schools in the country for truancy. Since then, the staff and students have transformed the school through various initiatives. Anti-truancy schemes include a mentoring scheme run by ex-students, and a competition between forms to win a weekly prize. Finally, staff talk about how the changes have improved not only attendance levels, but the overall achievement of the school.

Improving Secondary Attendance - Inner City Success

Improving attendance levels

How one school has battled against the problem of absenteeism to bring itself out of special measures and improve levels of attendance. When, two years ago, the City School in Sheffield was put into special measures by OFSTED, attendance was cited as a particular problem. Now, out of special measures, amongst the substantial improvements made at the school is the development of a strong attendance ethos. The school's greatest success has been in reducing the number of persistent absentees, a result of creating a strong home/school liaison team that is creating closer links with families. The team runs a mentoring project where staff are assigned between two and three students whose attendance lies in the 85 per cent to 90 per cent range. Students are monitored half termly by their mentors who support, encourage and help remove barriers to attending. The programme also features the work of the school's Health Practitioner who has initiated a number of strategies to help bring down the number of absentees for medical reasons.

Professional Development for Quality Teaching

Whole school

> Secondary Behaviour

> Attendance

Attendance and Punctuality: Carrots and Sticks

Attendance and Punctuality: Rewarding Attendance

Common issues for Secondary Parent Support Advisors (PSAs)

Improving Secondary Attendance - Inner City Success

Improving Secondary Attendance - Meeting the Challenge