Communicating with parents about school attendance

The Back to school reset guide will be useful for schools to share with parents.

The above guide and further information, including recommendations and helpful insights into what has been proven to work, is available on the UK Government website here: Communicating with parents about school attendance - GOV.UK

The guide for schools on communicating with parents about attendance includes: 

• new insights into attendance communications that work (and those that do not)
• practical suggestions about how, what, and when to communicate 
• resources to share with parents and carers, including:
  • NHS illness-absence advice
  • a series of animations
• ready-to-use:
  • letter and text message templates
  • phone call scripts
  • content on attendance topics 

Inspirational and instructive videos are also available. The leaders of 8 attendance and behaviour hub schools share their successful approaches to engaging and communicating with parents to improve attendance.

The back-to-school reset guide, by psychologist Dr Martha Deiros Collado, offers advice to share with parents and carers on:

• building excitement together
• focusing on facts rather than predictions
• building independence through simple choices
• easing back into school-time routine early
• helping the new routine to feel familiar
• making goodbyes easier
• addressing anxieties ahead of time
• allowing time to unwind after school