Attendance Matters - Practical guidance to improve attendance together

The purpose of this guidance is to provide additional support to schools to manage and improve pupil attendance at school. We want schools to have a range of helpful tools to support them in improving pupil attendance; to understand why pupils are absent and to use early intervention support so that pupil absence is addressed quickly and effectively.

This document provides examples of strategies that have been identified through the Education Authority’s Attendance Pilot Programme (2022-2023) as having been effective in improving pupil attendance at school.

In addition, this self-reflection guide, allows schools to assess existing attendance related policies / procedures and to identify areas for improvement along with setting challenging goals.

It is hoped that in conjunction with utilising the Absence Tiers reports (available within C2K / SIMS) along with the Department’s monthly pupil absence data by FSME bands, that you too, will be able to improve pupil attendance which is a collective challenge for all of us – schools, families, communities and society.