Attendance Training Courses

Empower your staff to increase school attendance

Learn from the attendance experts

Do you want a better idea of how you can boost attendance and bring persistently absent students back to school yourselves? Or perhaps you need help preparing for Ofsted inspections, making home visits, or supporting EAL students? In which case, our wide range of Education Welfare courses will give you everything you need. 

Created by our experienced Education Welfare specialists here at Peninsula Education, you’ll have access to over 40 years combined experience increasing attendance and supporting welfare across Devon, Cornwall, and the South West. Learn in-person in the South West, or study online wherever you are in England, with flexible options to suit you.

Why invest in Attendance Training?

Our Education Welfare specialists have designed our courses to give you everything you need to deal with challenging Education Welfare issues and reach excellent attendance rates yourselves. They put the resources required to gain an Outstanding grade at Ofsted right at your fingertips and save you money in the long run by creating specialists within your own department.

Choose from a wide range of courses covering topics from everyday attendance issues right through to dealing with children at risk of exclusion. Find courses suited to all staff members, from Teaching Assistants to School Governors. Study the courses online, at your own pace, wherever you are in England. Alternatively, bring our experienced team to you, and learn in-person in your school or academy across Devon, Cornwall, and the South West.

Boost Attendance, Reduce Persistent Absence

Understand the groups at risk of persistent absence and how you can better support them to improve their attendance. Learn the requirements of Ofsted in demonstrating your awareness of persistence absence and your plans to fix it. Come away feeling confident in your strategies and how to implement them.

Who’s it for?

  • Attendance Administrators 
  • Heads of Year
  • Senior Leadership Teams
  • Pastoral Staff

Attendance and School Inspections

Learn to decode your attendance data and better use it to improve attendance. Come away being able to spot patterns, plan interventions, monitor it for success, and explain your data-led strategies to Ofsted Inspectors with ease.

Who’s it for?

  • Senior Teachers
  • Senior Leadership Team
  • Administrators
  • Pastoral Staff
  • Attendance Governors

Understanding Attendance and the Law

Learn how each section of the Law works concerning attendance. Understand the different responsibilities placed on parents; schools and the Local Authority in turn, according to each different situation. Come away knowing the common pitfalls schools should avoid and how to write court papers with ease.

Who’s it for?

  • Attendance Administrators
  • Heads of Year
  • Senior Leadership Teams
  • Pastoral Staff

Ensure Safer Lone Working for Staff

Protect your safety and that of your staff while conducting home visits alone. Learn the appropriate protocols to follow in different situations and what to do when things go wrong. Come away ensuring the health and safety of all involved is managed appropriately.

Who’s it for?

  • Administrators
  • Teachers
  • Teaching Assistants
  • Senior Leadership Teams
  • Pastoral Staff
  • Governors

Attendance, Safeguarding and CME

Understand exactly what to do when a student is missing from school with no explanation. Learn how to manage safeguarding concerns, when referrals should be made and to whom, and when to seek additional help and support. 

Who’s it for?

  • Attendance Administrators 
  • Heads of Year
  • Senior Leadership Teams
  • Pastoral Staff

Keeping Better Student Registers

Understand exactly which code to use in different situations when recording an absence on the register. Learn the importance of consistent coding, how your registers will be used, and when it’s acceptable to authorise an absence. Come away feeling confident you can manage your registers yourself.

Who’s it for?

  • Attendance Administrators 
  • Heads of Year
  • Senior Leadership Teams
  • Pastoral Staff

Supporting English as an Additional Language

Learn from our experienced English as an Additional Language (EAL) experts and develop the skills and knowledge required to be able to support your EAL learners with ease. Come away feeling confident in your abilities, and make transitions simpler for everyone involved.

Who’s it for?

  • Classroom Teachers
  • SENCOs
  • Teaching Assistants

Managing School Exclusions

An unfair or poorly executed exclusion can have major consequences and legal implications for all involved. Learn what does and does not justify an exclusion, and how to execute the process when necessary. Come away with a full understanding of the Headteacher’s remit, and the role of Governors in ensuring an exclusion is reviewed fairly.

Who’s it for?

  • Senior Leadership Team
  • Governors

Understanding Juvenile Employment

Bring your knowledge of juvenile employment rules up to date with the help of our dedicated Education Welfare Support team. Come away confident in your ability to better safeguard and support your students to be well-informed and safe at work, so their employment doesn’t impact their attendance and attainment levels.

Who’s it for?

  • Heads of Year
  • Year Group Tutors
  • Senior Leadership Team
  • Pastoral Staff

Flexible Training Options

As teachers and governors with over 40 years of school experience, we know how much pressure there is on your time and resources. There isn’t always space in the INSET schedule for in-person training, and staff don’t always have time to spare for independent study.

So you can learn when it suits you, we provide flexible options for our training courses. Cover the same excellent course material in two different ways so you can learn new skills however suits you. Why not combine courses taken in different ways to fit your learning into busy schedules?

In-Person Learning

Choose to take any one of our attendance training courses in person for a more direct learning experience. One of our experienced trainers will travel to your school or academy anywhere in Devon, Cornwall, and the South West, to deliver excellent training to your staff.

Enjoy having our trainer there in person to answer any questions directly, and take advantage of learning together as a team, with everyone bringing their own questions and experiences to the table.

Get in touch to book one or more courses for your staff, and we’ll travel to you at a time that suits you.

Online Learning

Go online to study our attendance training courses for ultimate convenience. Purchase courses directly in our Online Training Area and learn whenever suits you, asking questions through our online discussion forum.

Enjoy developing new skills and tools from wherever you are in England. There’s no need to miss any work or organise extra INSET days for your staff. Download the course resources so you can refer back to them whenever you need them.

Simply find the course you need, and get started right away.

Testimonials

Boost Attendance, Reduce Persistant Absence

Get your students coming to school every day

If a student’s attendance rate falls well below the national average attendance rate, they are considered to be persistently absent (PA). But bringing them back into school and getting that rate back up can be extremely difficult if you don’t have the skills or knowledge required. To add to that challenge, Ofsted Inspectors will also want to see evidence of a clear strategy in place to prevent persistent absence at each inspection. So we’ve designed this course to help you do both these things, as well as know exactly who to contact for help when you need it, and when that’s appropriate.

During the course you’ll learn:

  • Approaches for increasing attendance at a whole school and individual level, including:
    • The different roles of staff, parents, and students.
    • Strategies for involving parents in increasing attendance.
    • How and when to involve external agencies.
    • When legal action is appropriate.
  • Some of the reasons students can struggle with persistent absence.
  • Tools to support children returning to school after a long absence, including:
    • How to support students with a medical need
    • How to support students returning following an exclusion
  • How to track and set targets for a student’s attendance, including resources to take away and use in the classroom.

As a result, you’ll come away knowing you can not only fix problems with Persistent Absences but also avoid them happening again in the future. So you can enjoy a high whole school attendance rate and impress Ofsted at every inspection.

Ensure Safer Lone Working for Staff

Protect yourself and your job when making home visits

If you or a staff member are required to meet with a parent or student outside of school to discuss attendance matters, there’s a risk you could be placed in a dangerous or compromising situation. It’s important to put the correct procedures in place to prevent this from happening, so we’ve designed a course to help you know exactly what to do in these situations to keep yourself and your job safe. 

During this course you’ll learn:

  • What to consider before making your visit
  • How to keep data secure while making your visit
  • How to keep yourself safe during your visit
  • Skills to conduct a successful interview
  • How to manage any potential conflict that may arise
  • Appropriate safeguarding protocols for transportation of students

As a result you’ll come away feeling more confident when asked to make a home visit or meet with a parent or student alone. With these skills in place, you’ll be able to hold more successful meetings, bringing more students back into school while keeping yourself safe in the process.

Attendance, Safeguarding and CME

Ensure the safety of Children Missing from Education

Safeguarding children who aren’t attending school without a reasonable explanation is of vital importance. But if you don’t know what the dangers are or where your responsibilities lie as a school, it can be impossible to know what to do next. So we’ve designed this course to help you understand where safeguarding risks and responsibilities lie and what your next steps should be when a child is missing from education.

During the course you’ll learn:

  • What constitutes a child missing from education
  • Why a child missing from education is a safeguarding concern
  • The different responsibilities of the school, the parents, and the Local Authority in this instance
  • Which children are particularly at risk of going missing from education
  • How to support children with special medical needs to return to school
  • Who to contact if you suspect abuse or neglect of the child

You’ll come away from the course knowing exactly what to do if you have a child missing from education, so you can have the best chance of finding them, safeguarding their welfare, and bringing them back to school. 

Keeping Better Student Registers

Manage your own registers with confidence

It’s a legal requirement to record and monitor attendance using consistent coding in line with regulations. Registers are a legal document and incorrect entries can cause serious issues later down the line. But getting your head around the different types of absences, what each code means, and when to use them can be a challenge. Luckily, we’ve designed this course to take the guesswork out of keeping your registers, so you can be sure you’re doing them correctly.

During this course you’ll learn:

  • The legal requirements for registers
  • When and why a student can be removed from a register
  • The difference between authorised and unauthorised absence
  • How to decide whether to authorise an absence
  • The parents’ responsibility in reporting an absence
  • What each code means and when to use them
  • The importance of monitoring lesson attendance throughout the day
  • When absence becomes persistent absence

Come away with the ability to take charge of your own registers, safe in the knowledge that you can code entries consistently and without fear of making errors. 

Understanding Attendance and the Law

Navigate legal attendance matters with ease

Knowing your responsibilities as a school when it comes to monitoring and increasing attendance is difficult if you don’t know the current legal regulations in place and which responsibilities belong to whom. What’s more, knowing when and how to pursue legal action through the courts can be a daunting process if you don’t know the correct steps to follow. So we’ve designed this course to bring your knowledge of attendance regulations up to date, and take you through exactly how the court process works.

During the course you’ll learn:

–  Current Government regulations relating to attendance taken from The 1996 Education Act

–  The responsibilities of the school, the parents, and the Local Authority

–  About issuing Penalty Charge Notices

–  How the Court Process works, including

  • What information is required
  • How to write a report
  • How to prepare a statement
  • Possible outcomes, and what to do next

As a result, you’ll feel more confident and in control when dealing with legal attendance matters, so you can follow the correct procedures and get your students back into school as soon as possible.

Understanding Juvenile Employment

Safeguard the welfare of your working students

Discovering a student is working alongside their schooling can raise concerns about their attendance and whether their work will have a negative impact on their progress. Knowing what to do to safeguard your student’s education can be a challenge if you aren’t sure of the current regulations and guidance. So we’ve designed this course to provide you with a full up-to-date overview of the rules surrounding juvenile employment.

During the course you’ll learn:

Current Government regulations relating to child employment, including

  • Legal working ages
  • Working hours
  • How and where casual, part-, and full-time employment differ
  • Term time and school holiday rules
  • Break requirements
  • Prohibited employment settings
  • When Child Employment Permits are required, and why

As a result, you’ll come away with a strong knowledge of what is and isn’t acceptable when it comes to your student’s working hours and conditions. This will put you in a better position to be able to safeguard them and their learning, so they can go on to achieve their full potential while in your school.

Managing School Exclusions

Know the legal process involved with removing a student

All exclusions from school should be lawful, reasonable and fair. Several conditions must be satisfied to ensure an exclusion doesn’t discriminate on characteristics such as disability or race. It’s also important that pupils from groups vulnerable to exclusion are given fair treatment. Furthermore, Ofsted Inspectors will expect to see certain information recorded at their next inspection. Therefore, we’ve designed this course to cover all the necessary information you’ll need to follow procedures correctly.

During the course you’ll learn:

–  What is an exclusion? 

  • Including the difference between a fixed-term and permanent exclusion
  • When it is legal and appropriate for a student to be excluded

–  The different roles Headteachers and Governors play in exclusions, including:

  • Considerations that should be made by the Headteacher
  • The responsibilities of the Headteacher following the decision to exclude a student
  • The Governors review process
  • The Governors’ responsibilities following the Governing Body Hearing


–  The role proof plays in any exclusion

–  Key statistics surrounding exclusions and discrimination

–  How to avoid exclusions due to discrimination

As a result, you’ll come away with the knowledge and training to be sure that any future decisions are made, carried out, and reviewed correctly and in line with the law. So you can be sure that no necessary exclusions will be overturned, and both Ofted and the Secretary of State will be satisfied with the reporting of your decision.

Attendance and School Inspections

Feel confident presenting your data to Ofsted Inspectors

Ofsted inspections are an important time for Attendance Leads and Administrators. Knowing your attendance data will be subject to detailed scrutiny can be daunting. Especially if you aren’t sure how to properly analyse it yourself and demonstrate this knowledge to an Inspector. We’ve designed this course to help solve that problem so you can increase both your attendance rates and your Ofsted grade.

During the course, you’ll learn:

–  The Ofsted Inspection framework, including:

  • Why inspectors focus so heavily on attendance
  • What they look for when assessing your attendance data
  • How they decide your school’s grade


–  How to use this framework to review your school attendance with students and staff

–  How to monitor and evaluate your attendance data according to best practice

–  Exactly what role Attendance Governors play in monitoring attendance and why

As a result, you’ll come away being able to confidently analyse your own attendance data now and in the future, and use that data to create attendance strategies for your school that you can present clearly to Ofsted inspectors. So you can achieve outstanding attendance rates, and get one step closer to becoming an Outstanding school.

Supporting English as an Additional Language

Help your EAL learners to thrive in the classroom

As qualified teachers, we understand how challenging it is to successfully support an EAL learner. You want them to feel comfortable in the classroom so they love coming to school and progress quickly. But this is hard to achieve without the right knowledge and tools, especially with all the other pressures placed on you.

In this course you’ll learn from our EAL specialists exactly how to:

– Make your new arrival’s transition as smooth as possible, including:

  • How to properly prepare for your new bilingual learner.
  • How to manage their first few days at school.
  • How to involve your EAL learner’s parents to provide wrap-around support.

– Help your EAL learner build English language with additional teaching tools.

– Monitor your EAL learner’s progress for maximum success.

– Spot the difference between a language need and a learning need and what to do next.

– Know when it’s time to ask for help and where to find it, thanks to our helpful resource directory.

As a result, you’ll come away with a strong understanding of how you can help your EAL learners feel confident and motivated in the classroom, ensuring they are excited to attend school every day and go on to achieve their full potential.