An attendance support meeting should end with a shared record of what is known, what the pupil and family say, which barriers the school can address, who owns each action and when everyone will review the plan.
The meeting is a collaborative enquiry. An attendance percentage can open the conversation; it cannot explain absence, choose support or decide an enforcement or safeguarding route.
This six-part agenda is for attendance leaders, pastoral teams, school leaders, DSLs, family-support staff and SENCos in England. It reflects guidance checked on 11 September 2026.
Invite the people who can understand and act
The July 2026 statutory attendance guidance asks schools to work jointly with pupils and families, listen to barriers and agree support. Keep the best-placed school contact consistent where possible.
Invite the pupil in a way that suits their age, communication and access needs. Ask the family who should attend and whether an interpreter, accessible format or different meeting arrangement would help.
Bring staff who can make decisions about the likely barriers. That may include the attendance lead, form tutor, pastoral lead, SENCo or another professional already supporting the family.
The DSL joins or advises where safeguarding information requires that route. Attendance data does not grant every attendee access to every record; ordinary role and information-sharing rules still apply.
Use one six-part meeting record
Send a blank copy before the meeting if that helps the pupil or family prepare. Complete it together and record disagreement or missing evidence openly. A tidy box is not evidence that everybody agreed.
1. The attendance evidence
Record the sessions, dates and punctuality pattern being discussed. Check the source and any missing marks or coding questions first. Use days and missed experiences where these are clearer than a percentage.
Describe the pattern without adding a cause: for example, three late arrivals after lunch or two absences on days with a room change. Early-term evidence is provisional and open to correction.
2. The pupil's account
Ask what makes arriving, entering, staying or returning easier or harder. Check where the pattern changes, what has already helped and what the pupil wants adults to understand.
Record the pupil's own account separately from staff interpretation. If the pupil does not respond in the meeting, agree a safer or more accessible way to hear them and name who will follow it up.
3. The family account
Ask what the school record may have missed, what mornings or returns look like at home and which support has been tried. Start from positive intent and recognise the family's knowledge of their child.
Record different accounts accurately. A disagreement about cause does not prevent the school from testing an in-school change or offering support for a barrier outside its control.
4. School barriers, support and adjustments
Check curriculum access, relationships, bullying, routines, sensory demands, SEND provision, health arrangements, transport and other relevant context. Focus on evidence the school can inspect and action it can own.
The statutory guidance expects schools to address in-school barriers and arrange additional support or reasonable adjustments where appropriate. Existing SEN Support or an individual healthcare plan should inform the meeting without being replaced by it.
5. Agreed actions and ownership
Write each action as a testable commitment: who will do what, by when, with what cover if the person is absent. Separate the school's action, the support offered and anything the pupil or family has agreed to try.
Avoid vague promises such as monitor closely. A workable entry might say that the pastoral lead will meet the pupil at the quieter gate for five school days and record whether the planned handover happened.
6. Review evidence and decision point
Set a near review date and say what evidence each person will bring. Include delivery evidence, the pupil and family view, attendance sessions, access to learning and any unintended effect.
At review, continue, adapt or stop the action. Escalate support when the evidence and current guidance require it. Do not let a recurring meeting become a waiting room for a decision that another authorised process must make.
Walk a difficult morning into one small test
The details below combine common attendance-support questions. They describe no pupil, family, school or customer.
A Year 7 pupil has arrived late on three mornings. The attendance record shows that each delay followed a timetable change, but that sequence does not establish the reason.
The pupil says the crowded gate and uncertainty about the first room make entry difficult. The family describes a reliable journey and asks whether the pupil can use a quieter entrance.
The SENCo checks an existing pupil passport that records sensitivity to noise. The pastoral lead confirms the quieter route can be staffed. No one treats the three mornings as a diagnosis or proof of a fixed barrier.
The group agrees a five-day test. The pastoral lead owns the gate handover, the tutor checks arrival at the first lesson, and the pupil and family can report whether the change helped or created another difficulty.
The review will compare delivery, pupil and family feedback, punctuality and classroom access. Improvement would support continuing the arrangement; it would not prove that noise caused every late arrival.
Keep the meeting inside its proper boundary
An attendance pattern cannot prove neglect, parental disengagement, illness, unmet SEND, exploitation or another safeguarding harm. It cannot predict future absence or rank families by willingness to engage.
A support meeting does not automatically trigger a referral, sanction, attendance contract, penalty notice or legal route. Those decisions require the relevant evidence, authority, current guidance and individual consideration.
If information suggests that a child may be at risk of harm, follow the school's child protection policy and local procedure, involving the DSL or deputy promptly. Urgent concerns use the established safeguarding or emergency route.
Where mental or physical ill health or SEND affects attendance, use the relevant guidance and professional advice. Keep the attendance plan aligned with SEN Support, reasonable adjustments, healthcare or reintegration arrangements.
Where Student Radar fits
Student Radar's Attendance Analytics can open the period, session and pupil evidence behind a pattern. The pupil profile's Communication Log keeps authorised family contact in an ordered timeline.
Attendance Playbooks can keep an agreed support step, owner and review evidence visible. Linked records reduce reconstruction from separate exports while preserving each source and its access controls.
These features do not explain absence, select an adjustment, assess safeguarding risk or make an enforcement decision. The pupil, family and authorised professionals remain responsible for interpreting evidence and agreeing what happens next.
Close with four review questions
- Did each agreed action happen as planned, and what evidence shows that?
- What do the pupil and family say changed, stayed difficult or was missed?
- Does the plan need to continue, change, stop or connect to another support route?
- Who owns the next action, and on what date will it be reviewed?
Use the five-day stabilisation plan when the pupil has returned and the immediate routine needs testing. Use the SEND monitoring decision record when the question is whether a bounded SEND enquiry is needed.
To see the attendance evidence and support workflow with your school's roles, request an attendance-focused walkthrough.
Sources and further reading
- Department for Education, Working together to improve school attendance, statutory guidance for England, published 6 May 2022 and updated 9 July 2026.
- Department for Education, A guide for schools on communicating with parents about attendance, guidance for England updated 19 August 2026.
- Department for Education, Mental health issues affecting a pupil's attendance: guidance for schools, guidance for England published 7 February 2023.
- Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care, SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years, statutory guidance for England; publication page updated 12 September 2024.
- Education Endowment Foundation, Build a holistic understanding of pupils and families, supporting school attendance resource published 31 January 2024.
- The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024, UK Statutory Instrument 2024 No. 208, made 27 February 2024 and in force from 19 August 2024.