Responding to new spring term school attendance figures as his union prepares to debate a motion on the issue at its annual conference in Harrogate, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders' union NAHT, said:

“It is encouraging that for the second term running, attendance figures have moved in the right direction year-on-year.

“Schools are continuing to work incredibly hard to increase attendance, including by tackling unauthorised absence - however there is much more to do.

“Many of the root causes of absence are beyond schools’ control and that is reflected in a motion to be debated by school leaders at NAHT’s annual conference this weekend.

"The motion calls for a truly multi-agency approach to tackling issues including the impact of the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, mental health challenges, and gaps in provision for pupils with special educational needs.

“Vital services which support families and schools, like social care and mental health, and key roles like education welfare officer, faced huge cuts under the previous government.

"To make bigger strides in improving school attendance, we need fresh investment in this kind of help, something reflected in our conference motion - as well as tangible action to address the causes of child poverty.”

The conference motion, which will be debated at NAHT's annual conference on Saturday morning, reads as follows:

Conference notes with concern the growing accountability placed on school leaders for pupil attendance, despite the many external factors affecting school attendance, including the impact of the pandemic, mental health challenges, SEND provision gaps, and the cost-of-living crisis.

Conference believes that tackling attendance requires a multi-agency approach that includes families, local authorities, and wider social services rather than making school leaders solely responsible for attendance rates. The increasing pressure on leaders to manage attendance without sufficient resources risks undermining their ability to focus on teaching and learning.

Conference calls on the National Executive to:

• Campaign for fairer attendance accountability measures, ensuring that attendance policies reflect the shared responsibility of schools, families, and local authorities.
• Advocate for increased resources and funding for attendance-related support, including early intervention programmes, family engagement services, and mental health provisions.
• Engage with policymakers and stakeholders to shape attendance strategies that are evidence-based and realistic for school leaders to implement.

NB: Today's new statistics show the spring term 2024/25 pupil absence rate was 7.0% across all schools - lower than spring term 2023/24 when it was 7.3%.

The persistent absence rate (pupils who miss 10% or more of their possible sessions) was 20.3%, which was lower than the spring term 2023/24 when it was 22.0%.