This module draws on the DfE's statutory guidance Working together to improve school attendance, which distinguishes disengagement- and circumstance-driven absence from emotionally based school avoidance (covered separately in Anxiety and avoidance, Module 6) and calls for schools to understand the specific reason behind each pupil's absence rather than applying a single standard response. It also reflects Ofsted's Education Inspection Framework, under which attendance and punctuality are assessed as part of the behaviour and attitudes judgement, reinforcing that improving attendance is inseparable from a pupil's wider sense of belonging and engagement, not just a compliance matter. Where Module 6 addresses fear- and anxiety-driven non-attendance, this module is for pupils who are absent through disengagement, competing priorities or drift, and is designed to run alongside the school's attendance team and, where relevant, the Education Welfare Officer.
Objective: Pupil can describe, in the pupil's own words, the main reasons behind the pattern of absence, without judgement.
Check-in: Rapport-building chat; explain clearly and calmly that this course is about understanding and problem-solving, not getting into trouble.
Input: Set out that attendance patterns usually have real, understandable reasons behind them, even when they look like simple choice from the outside.
Activity: Pupil completes a non-judgemental 'attendance story', a simple timeline of when things started slipping and why, in the pupil's own words.
Reflect: What's the biggest single reason attendance has dropped? Agree one thing to notice this week, something that makes attending harder, whatever form that takes for the pupil specifically.
Watch for: Watch for signs the underlying driver is actually anxiety rather than disengagement, if so, consider Module 6 instead or alongside. Also stay alert to safeguarding indicators such as neglect, caring responsibilities or an unsafe home routine, and follow school procedure.
Parent/carer take-home: Try to understand rather than immediately correct, ask what's making mornings hard this week, and listen before responding.
Objective: Pupil identifies specific pull factors, things drawing the pupil away, versus push factors, things making school unappealing.
Check-in: Review the attendance story from Week 1.
Input: Introduce a simple push/pull framework for thinking about absence.
Activity: Sort a set of factor cards into two columns, for example 'friends outside school', 'boring lessons', 'looking after a sibling', 'avoiding a specific person', and discuss the strongest two or three.
Reflect: Which factor feels biggest right now? Agree one small thing to test differently this week.
Watch for: Stay alert to caring responsibilities or family circumstances that may need wider support beyond mentoring, loop in the pastoral team if so.
Parent/carer take-home: Notice what seems to make attendance easier or harder this week, without pressure, small practical patterns matter more than a single conversation, and the pattern may not be about mornings at all.
Objective: Pupil identifies at least one source of connection or purpose at school worth showing up for.
Check-in: Review what's happened since mapping push and pull factors.
Input: Explore the idea that attendance sticks better when it's tied to something the pupil values, a friendship, a subject, a club, a target, not just a rule to follow.
Activity: Map out 'reasons to be here': people, activities, subjects and achievements, and rank them by how strongly each pulls the pupil in.
Reflect: Which reason is strongest? Agree to lean into that connection this week, such as arranging to meet a friend at the gate.
Watch for: If a pupil can't identify any reason at all, this may signal deeper disengagement needing wider pastoral involvement, not just mentoring.
Parent/carer take-home: Ask what or who the pupil is looking forward to seeing at school this week, and encourage that connection specifically.
Objective: Pupil and mentor agree a practical plan that targets the single biggest barrier identified so far, whatever form it actually takes.
Check-in: Review progress on leaning into the chosen connection from Week 3.
Input: Revisit the barrier raised in Weeks 1 and 2 in more detail. Practical barriers to attendance vary widely, transport, uniform, a specific lesson or teacher, sleep and routine, a part-time job, caring responsibilities, or a peer relationship, so this session follows whatever the pupil has actually described, rather than assuming it's about mornings or any other single cause.
Activity: Build a simple, practical action plan together that targets the specific barrier this pupil identified, for example arranging alternative transport, agreeing a plan for a difficult lesson, coordinating around a caring responsibility, or resolving a peer issue, rather than a generic attendance routine.
Reflect: What's most likely to get in the way of this specific plan, and what's the backup if it does?
Watch for: Don't default to assuming the barrier is 'mornings', for many pupils it's a specific lesson, a social situation, transport, or a responsibility at home. Let what the pupil told you in Weeks 1 and 2 drive this session, not a template.
Parent/carer take-home: Support whichever specific change was agreed this week, that might mean an adjusted routine, transport, or something else entirely, consistency in following through matters more than what the change actually is.
Objective: Pupil has a graded, realistic attendance plan and understands what happens next.
Check-in: Review progress across the five weeks.
Input: Summarise what's been learned: reasons for absence, sources of connection, and the practical fixes agreed.
Activity: Co-create a graded attendance plan with the pupil and, where appropriate, the school's attendance lead, realistic short-term targets rather than an immediate jump to full attendance.
Reflect: What's one thing you're feeling more confident about? What still feels hardest?
Watch for: Agree a review point with the attendance team, and loop in the Education Welfare Officer if statutory thresholds are a concern.
Parent/carer take-home: Read through the plan together and agree how you'll support the first small target, consistency at home makes the biggest difference here.