Attendance and duty of care
Each pupil attending alternative provision must remain on a school roll and the school retains the ultimate duty of care for pupils, unless the child is singly registered with the alternative provision provider. There is an expectation that schools and providers record and monitor attendance.
The responsibilities for monitoring attendance on a daily basis are as follows:
The provider is responsible for pupils onto their course(s) and for recording, monitoring and reporting attendance and absences. This must be completed twice a day, morning and afternoon. This is a legal requirement and all schools, except those where all the pupils are boarders, must keep an attendance register in accordance with regulation 6 of the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 as amended.
Schools and providers must adhere to the DfE national codes to record and monitor attendance and absence in a consistent way which complies with the regulations. They are also used for collecting statistics through the school census system. The data helps schools, local authorities and the government to gain a greater understanding of the level of, and the reasons for absence.
Schools are legally responsible for using the correct codes and the importance of using the correct code is also a safeguarding issue. All sessions when a pupil is not expected to physically present in school should be marked appropriately using the DfE registration code which can be found in the working together to improve school attendance document.
The activity must take place during the session for which it is recorded and for pupils of compulsory school age the school must record the nature of the activity.
Attending another school at which the pupil is registered:
Relevant regulation: 6(1)(a)(iii) and 6(4)(b)
- Code D: dual registered at another school
The law allows for a pupil to be registered at more than one school. This code is used to indicate that the pupil was not expected to attend the school in question because they were scheduled to attend the other school at which they are registered. The main examples of dual registration are pupils who are attending a pupil referral unit, a hospital school or a special school on a temporary basis.
Each school should only record the pupil’s attendance and absence for those sessions that the pupil is scheduled to attend their school. Schools should ensure that they have in place arrangements whereby all unexpected and unexplained absence are promptly followed up.
Attending an educational activity that takes place outside the school:
Relevant regulation: 6(1)(iii), 6(1)(c) and 6(4)(a)
- Code B: off-site educational activity
Attending an off-site educational activity that has been approved by the school and supervised by someone authorised by the school.
The educational activity must take place during the session for which it is recorded. Ultimately schools are responsible for the safeguarding and welfare of pupils educated off - site. Therefore, by using code B, schools are certifying that the education is supervised, and measures have been taken to safeguard the pupil. Schools should ensure that they have in place arrangements whereby the provider of the educational activity notifies the school of any absences by the pupil. The school should record the pupil’s absence using the relevant absence code.
This code must not be used for any unsupervised educational activity for example when a pupil is at home doing some schoolwork.