Attendance first-day absence and pupil transfer response procedure

This procedure applies conditionally to maintained and academy schools in England when a pupil fails to attend on the agreed starting day or transfers between schools. The local-authority notification process applies where the school cannot locate the pupil. The transfer controls apply to the original and receiving schools according to the agreed or notified attendance date.

First-day absence

If a pupil fails to attend on the agreed starting day, follow up the absence and try to establish the reason for it.

Record the first-day absence follow-up, including contact attempts and their outcomes. Record safeguarding or welfare information where relevant.

If the school is unable to locate the pupil, notify the local authority.

Pupil transfer between schools

The receiving school must enter the pupil's name on its admission register on the first day that it has agreed or been told the pupil will attend.

The original school must delete the pupil's name from its admission register as soon as the pupil is entered on the receiving school's admission register.

The original school must record the pupil's attendance and absence up to and including the day before the receiving school's first attendance date. The receiving school must record the pupil's attendance and absence from that first attendance date.

The original and receiving schools must transfer or request the appropriate pupil information through the S2S system, according to their roles in the transfer.

Transfer date example

Where a pupil leaves the original school on one day and the agreed or notified first attendance date at the receiving school is the following day, the receiving school enters the pupil on its admission register on the first attendance date, the original school deletes the pupil on that date, the original school records attendance and absence up to and including the preceding day, and the receiving school records attendance and absence from the first attendance date.