Teach Secondary -Issue 15.1

Across England, persistent absence remains a significant barrier to pupil progress, with attendance rates yet to return to pre-pandemic levels. Recent national data shows that persistent absence has dipped marginally – from 6.93% in the first term of the 2023/24 academic year, to 6.63% at the same point in 2024/25 – but it’s far from the level of improvement that’s needed. When pupils stop attending school regularly, there will be a combination of academic, emotional and social factors involved. Once a pupil disengages, their relationship with education becomes difficult to rebuild. The challenge isn’t just one of bringing pupils back, but also helping them feel that school matters – which is where community partnerships offer transformational potential. Too often, conversations around attendance are focused solely on the classroom. Young people thrive when they feel seen and supported by their school, but also by the communities around them. Strong community partnerships with local businesses and charities can unite schools, families and those organisations under a shared sense of responsibility for young people. These partnerships can take different forms, and focus on different areas – such as sport, creative pursuits, youth work or volunteering – but the goal remains consistent: to make education relevant, personal and above all, rooted in real experience. PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE When pupils meet mentors who share their background and values, they can start to see their education through a different lens, and come to appreciate how school can open doors for them. The ‘North East United’ pilot initiative was created to test this principle. Developed and led by The Edwin Group (see edwin. group) and supported by three MATs based in the North East – including Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust – it brought together the charitable football foundations of Newcastle United, Sunderland AFC andMiddlesborough FC to re-engage pupils at risk of disconnecting from education. Over 12 weeks, pupils explored the areas of teamwork, aspiration and emotional wellbeing through a mix of sport activities and life skills mentoring. Focusing on Y10 pupils – the point when pupils are most likely to disengage – the programme provided access to positive coaches and role models from the participating football foundations, who helped pupils rebuild their confidence and rediscover their motivation for learning. The results were striking. Pupils on the programme increased their attendance from 86.22% to 87.24%, with individual improvements of up to 40 percentage points in some cases. Crucially, 91% of pupils subsequently stated feeling more positive about attending school, with 71% reporting increased levels of confidence. At St John’s Catholic School and Sixth Form College, average attendance rose above 90%by the end of the 2024/25 summer term. The most telling outcome was that pupils began setting their own goals, with 64% saying that they wanted to maintain attendance rates of 90% or higher in future. LESSONS LEARNED The lessons here for schools and trusts is that robust community partnerships can play a key role in rebuilding sustained engagement when guided by the following core principles: 1 Schools should identify local community organisations that align with their mission and values, and are authentic to pupils. 2 Any partnerships should be collaborative, with schools, families and other organisations all playing an active role. 3 Celebrating small wins quickly and visibly can fuel pupils’ motivation. 4 The mentor/pupil bond can be a powerful lever for change 5 Consistency matters more than complexity North East United has shown how schools can transform attendance by building meaningful community partnerships with a shared purpose, which can in turn support those pupils who feel disconnected from learning. Once pupils feel that they belong, they will show up, engage and achieve. The term ‘withitness’ was first coined by Jacob Kounin in the late 1960s, to refer to three key elements of teacher awareness. In his view, the ‘withit’ teacher… • Knows (or has a good idea of) what their students are doing at any given time • Similarly knows (or can easily predict) what their students will do in any given situation • Conveys their awareness of the above to the class Withitness comes from closely observing students, thinking about what you see and registering patterns of behaviour both pertaining to the entire class and to specific individuals. It’s about reading the room and the individuals within it. It’s also about spotting those mini behaviours that can become mini misbehaviours and intervening quickly. In short, the withit teacher knows what’s going on, and demonstrates that awareness by actively managing the class. The opposite of withitness is ‘withoutitness’. Here, the teacher doesn’t know what the students are doing, or what they might do in different situations, thus putting them on the behaviour management back foot. Consequently, they tend to respond in the moment, rather than take a preventative approach, and will often be slow to intervene. Hence, the misbehaviour gets worse, making it even harder to deal with. Robin Launder is a behaviour management consultant and speaker; this column is adapted from his book, Brilliant Behaviour in 60 Seconds or Less (Routledge, £18.99) DOTHIS ‘WITHITNESS’ ROBINLAUNDER PRESENTSHIS TIPS FOR OVERSEEINGBRILLIANT BEHAVIOUR... SARAH MONK IS CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER AT EDWIN; BRENDAN TAPPING IS CEO AT BISHOP CHADWICK CATHOLIC EDUCATION TRUST FOCUS ON… ABSENTEEISM 72 teachwire.net/secondary