Who is this template for?
This template is designed for school and trust leaders who are responsible for driving improvements in pupil attendance. It is ideal for Headteachers/Principals, Middle Leaders, designated Attendance Leads, and MAT CEOs or members of a MAT Central Team who oversee attendance strategy across multiple schools.
Why use this template?
Tackling persistent absence is a critical, yet complex, challenge. This template provides a clear, research-backed structure to move from simply monitoring data to implementing effective, sustainable change.
- Gain Clarity and Focus: Break down the multifaceted issue of attendance into manageable components. This template helps you diagnose the right problems and focus your energy on interventions that will make a real difference.
- Adopt an Evidence-Informed Approach: Built around the EEF's proven guidance, the template ensures your strategy is grounded in evidence, not guesswork. It promotes a culture where judgements are supported by reliable data, observations, and insights.
- Save Valuable Leadership Time: Instead of starting with a blank page, this ready-made framework provides a logical starting point for your attendance review, saving hours of planning and preparation time.
- Ensure Consistency and Cohesion: Use a consistent method for evaluating and planning for attendance across all departments, year groups, or even across every school in a trust.
- Foster Collaboration and Shared Ownership: The clear structure makes it easy to involve all staff members responsible for improving attendance, from pastoral teams to senior leaders, fostering a sense of collective responsibility.
- Drive Strategic Action: This template moves beyond simple evaluation. The built-in analysis of 'helping' and 'hindering' factors directly informs the creation of a clear, targeted, and actionable improvement plan.
How does it work?
This template uses the standard, intuitive iAbacus process: make a judgement by sliding a bead, verify it against the criteria, support it with evidence, analyse the helping and hindering factors, and build a powerful action plan.
The evaluation is structured around six key areas derived from the EEF's reflection tool:
- Holistic Understanding: Go beyond headline data to diagnose the specific needs of pupils and families, ensuring every pupil has an adult in school who knows them well.
- Culture: Evaluate and strengthen the school's culture of community and belonging, ensuring pupils feel safe, seen, and understood.
- Communication: Review how effectively the school communicates with families, ensuring messages are clear, supportive, and accessible to all.
- Universal Provision: Assess the quality of universal provision for all pupils, ensuring teachers have the expertise and support to meet every child's learning needs.
- Targeted Interventions: Ensure that targeted support is precise, well-delivered by staff with the right expertise, and designed to meet a specifically identified need.
- Monitor the Impact: Track and review the effectiveness of your interventions to ensure they are having the intended impact, and adjust your approach where necessary.
Gaining Strategic Insight
For leaders of a Multi-Academy Trust or school group, this template provides a powerful tool for strategic oversight. By inviting each school to complete their own version of the attendance template, a MAT leader can use the iAbacus 'Stack' feature to view all the evaluations on a single, scrollable page. This makes it easy to compare strategies, identify common barriers across the trust, and spot pockets of excellent practice that can be shared and replicated to lift performance for all.
Clear, Professional Reporting
When you need to share your progress, iAbacus generates a professional, visually compelling PDF report with a single click. This report clearly presents your judgements, the evidence behind them, and your detailed action plan. It is perfect for providing a comprehensive overview of your attendance strategy to your Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team, ensuring they are kept fully informed and aligned. The report is also an excellent resource to share with governors or an inspector to demonstrate a clear, evidence-based approach to improving attendance.
References / Source Material
This template is based on the criteria and guidance provided by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF).
How to Get Started
New to iAbacus? Discover how this template can support your improvement strategy. Book a personalised demo or start a free trial to explore the full platform. Visit www.iabacus.com to learn more.
Already a subscriber? You can find this template in the template library within your iAbacus account. Simply log in, create a new abacus, and select it from the list to get started.
