School Cross-School Attendance Practice-Sharing Plan

This plan applies where [trust or federation name] is a multi-academy trust or federation governing body in England. Its arrangements should reflect the schools within the trust or federation.

Purpose

The purpose of this plan is to support regular opportunities for staff from different schools to learn from one another’s attendance expertise and share effective interventions.

Cross-school attendance analysis

[trust or federation name] should identify and monitor attendance patterns across its schools to identify common issues and barriers. The analysis should inform the subjects considered through the cross-school practice-sharing arrangements.

Regular practice-sharing opportunities

At regular opportunities, staff from different schools should be brought together to learn from each other’s attendance expertise and share effective interventions.

Activities may include sharing exemplar resources and documents, such as communications to pupils and parents; regular networking or question-and-answer sessions; and topical best-practice materials or agreed approaches that provide a clear starting point for schools within the trust or federation.

Common barriers and effective interventions

The participating schools should use the cross-school arrangements to discuss common attendance issues and barriers, share effective practice, and consider which interventions and resources may be relevant to their own circumstances.

Shared staffing and resources

Where schools are geographically concentrated, the trust or federation may consider sharing staff and other resources between schools where appropriate, including where a member of staff is supporting pupils from the same family who attend different schools run by the trust.

Applying learning across schools

Each participating school should consider the learning, interventions, resources and agreed approaches arising from the cross-school opportunities and record how relevant learning is applied within the school.

Local arrangements

The arrangements for [trust or federation name] should identify the participating schools, the staff who will take part, the regular opportunities to be provided, and the method used to record how learning is applied.