Almost one in five pupils in England are now persistently absent, and sanctions alone haven't closed that gap (DfE 2026).

This session shows leaders how to make the curriculum itself the pull factor - turning engaging, well-taught lessons into one of the most powerful attendance levers the school has.

This course is aimed at aspiring, recently appointed and experienced school leaders, especially those with responsibility for attendance, curriculum development and pastoral care, in both primary and secondary schools and MATs. Colleagues with responsibility for governance in this essential component of school improvement are also welcome!

Persistent absence remains one of the most stubborn challenges facing English schools: almost one in five pupils missed 10% or more of their possible sessions across the last academic year, with the picture worse still for disadvantaged pupils and those with additional needs (Department for Education, 2026a).

Attendance strategies too often stop at monitoring, sanctions and letters home - yet the evidence is clear that sustainable improvement depends as much on what happens inside the classroom as outside it (Education Endowment Foundation, 2022).

This CPD session reframes attendance as a curriculum and pedagogy issue, not just a compliance one. You will use engaging, well-sequenced teaching - grounded in the Great Teaching Toolkit's evidence-based model of great teaching (Coe et al., 202) - a genuine leveer for improving attendance, alongside the relationship-based approaches set out in the Department for Education's statutory guidance on school attendance.

Leaders will leave with a practical framework linking curriculum design, classroom practice and pastoral systems, and a concrete plan for making their classrooms places pupils want to be in - not just places they're required to attend.

Course Outcomes

• Understand the current scale and drivers of pupil absence in England, and the shift in national guidance toward relationship-based, whole-school approaches (Department for Education, 2026b).
• Evaluate the evidence on what actually improves attendance, distinguishing high-impact from low-impact interventions (Education Endowment Foundation, 2022).
• Apply the Great Teaching Toolkit's four dimensions of great teaching to strengthen curriculum engagement as an attendance strategy (Coe et al., 2020).
• Identify practical, classroom-level changes to curriculum design and pedagogy that increase pupils' sense of belonging and motivation to attend.
• Develop a whole-school action plan that connects curriculum leadership, pastoral systems and attendance data into a single, coherent strategy.

Course Outline

• Introductions and input on the scale of the problem, and the shift in statutory guidance away from compliance responses towards a whole school culture, as supported by the EEF. We will also look at the GTT for dimensions which includes creating supportive environment.
• Reflecting on the link between disengagement and absence, which includes curriculum/pedagogy driven absence and other drivers; because each requires different responses. We will also consider case studies to reflect on the identification and benefits of different responses.
• Comfort Break and Virtual Networking.
• A reminder of school's statutory duties and how the GTT can be used as a practical audit tool against attendance risk. We will then look at how the frameworks can be applied to the case studies above and consider the impact of each.
• Building into whole-school practice & action planning.
• Close of day.

Presenter Profile

John Rees is a former secondary Deputy Headteacher, with responsibility for staff well-being and pastoral care, has been advising schools and training staff as an independent consultant for 20+ years. John works as a school improvement partner with independent and state-funded schools, MATs and LAs across the country, most recently in Manchester, Kirklees, the Isle of Man and Cyprus.

Cost: £150 per delegate; £50 each for subsequent delegates from same school

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