We are delighted to share that Stage 1 of the Inclusive Attendance Programme has now launched across all of our six schools across the North West.
This marks a major step forward in our commitment to creating attendance cultures that are sustainable, inclusive and consistently centred around the needs of children and young people who think, behave and learn differently.
Embedding the Inclusive Attendance Programme means establishing a truly system led approach across the federation. It encourages collective responsibility, strengthens best practice and ensures that attendance becomes a meaningful driver for long term success.
By working in partnership with Inclusive Attendance, we have begun accredited staff learning, deep dive practice reviews and the development of a five year strategy that places inclusivity, belonging and success for every learner at the heart of what we do.
This work also ensures that our approach aligns closely with the Ofsted Framework and the Department for Education’s statutory expectations regarding attendance. More importantly, it strengthens our culture of care, consistency and ambition. The programme will support us to reduce persistent absence, improve overall attendance and build a quality assurance model that helps each school grow year on year through self evaluation, shared insight and collaboration.
Senior Head of School Caron Cooper, captured the purpose behind this work clearly when she said, “We did this because attendance is so important for children. The passion is that we want to get these children back into school because they have not been in school. By having attendance incentives and committing to this, because we are all about inclusivity, that is why we are doing it.”
Inclusive Attendance described today as the beginning of “a shared vision”, acknowledging our commitment to leading the way in sustainable attendance improvement.
This launch represents an important milestone for all of us at First Steps Together. It strengthens our ability to support children and young people every day, ensures we are working to the highest standards and brings us closer to achieving Bronze Mark Accreditation across all of our schools.
Most importantly, it reinforces our belief that every child deserves a school environment where they feel supported to attend, welcomed when they arrive and empowered to succeed.