Attendance mentoring for persistently absent pupils - pilot project

Regular attendance at school is vital for children’s education, wellbeing, and long-term development. The Secretary of State for Education, Nadhim Zahawi, has made clear that excellent attendance is a priority to ensure that all children can catch up on lost learning caused by the pandemic. As announced in the Levelling Up White Paper, the department is planning a new attendance pilot in a group of Education Improvement Areas where there is a clear demographic need to improve persistent and severe absence rates. Persistent and Severe absence are a concern across the education sector, raised in publications by, for example, the Centre for Social Justice and the Children’s Commissioner. Mentoring to improve attendance has been suggested as a potential solution to this issue. We are looking for a contractor that will recruit and train mentors to provide targeted 1 – 1 support with an identified pupil or their family to overcome barriers to attendance. This relationship will need to be reactive to the individuals needs with the overall end goal to improve attendance.