Attendance

Our East Sussex attendance mantra is ‘building inclusive cultures: attendance as a shared responsibility’.

The ESCC Attendance Delivery Plan 2026-2028 [373.6 KB] [docx] outlines the LAs strategic plan to bring about positive change to attendance in East Sussex schools.

The 4 Attendance Objectives for 2026-2028 are:

Reduce severe absence (SA) through schools' Inclusion Strategies & earlier intervention
Reduce persistent absence (PA) for all Secondary and Special Schools across East Sussex
Increase overall attendance rate for Primary and Secondary schools in Area Group 2 (Eastbourne & Hailsham)
Use full range of legal statutory intervention where support has not been successful or engaged with

The ESCC Attendance Support Team (AST) track attendance data for all East Sussex schools. This helps to identify issues and barriers to attendance early on.

The team will support schools to manage any concerns, including facilitating multi-agency meetings. They help the school plan individual or group approaches to improve attendance.

What the Attendance Support Team offer

A daily attendance helpline for schools.
Opportunities for schools to share best practice.
Targeted support meetings to identify and address concerns.
Multi-disciplinary support for families and signposting to other council services.
Support with legal interventions like parenting contracts, Extended Support Officers, fixed penalty notices, parenting orders and prosecutions.

The Attendance Support Team is part of the new Team Around the School and Setting (TASS).

We work in area-based teams to provide in-school support and advice in:

Lewes, Coastal and Wealden
Rother, Rye and Hastings
Eastbourne and Hailsham

Attendance Policies

Attendance Guidance

Children Missing Education (CME)

For policies and guidance on Children Missing Education (CME) or if you wish to make contact with the CME team, details can be found on the Czone CME page .

Penalty Notices

For guidance on persistent absences, Penalty Notices, Notice to Improve, Attendance Support Plans and withdrawal from learning applications, please view the 'penalty notice' page on Czone here Penalty notices | Czone.

Contact the Attendance Support Team

Attendance helpline

Phone: 01273 481 967 (open Monday to Friday 10.00am to 15.00pm).

Early Help Keywork Level 2 - support for families with children and young people whose attendance is below 60%

ESCC L2 Keywork Team offers support to families with severely absent children and young people. We provide whole family support over a five-month period, to identify and reduce the barriers to attending school.

We work closely with the TASS (Team Around Schools and Settings), Attendance Support Team (AST) and where a school has a named SPOC (single point of contact).

Schools could contact the attendance helpline for information and guidance first:

Phone: 01273 481 967 (open Monday to Friday 10.00am to 3.00pm)

Please see below criteria to be met before making a referral to Level 2 attendance.

Criterial for referral to Level 2 Keywork Team

Child or young person’s attendance has been below 60% for ten consecutive academic weeks.

Referrals to be made by schools via a SoR through the Children's Portal (see links below). Parent/carer consent to be gained prior to referral being submitted.

Referrals can be made by anyone within the school, however we ask that the school update their internal systems, so all internal professionals are aware.

Schools must clearly demonstrate the interventions that have been carried out to address the attendance concerns. Please refer to the ESCC Attendance Toolkit.

Schools must clearly demonstrate they have worked though the supportive measures outlined in Tiers 1-3 as shown on the Attendance flowchart on page 5 and discussed the referral with their SPOC.

School must email a copy of their School Attendance Plan (formal or informal) as completed with the child or young person and their parents – to the SPOA in-box (see details below). All plans must have at least one review.

Where a child has diagnosed SEN needs, the current Additional Needs Support Plan or EHCP must be submitted with the referral including evidence that it has been regularly reviewed. If an EHCP is in the process of being applied for please indicate in the SoR.

Make a referral

School referrer makes a statement of referral (SoR) through the Children's Portal.

Email a copy of the school attendance plan and review (formal or informal), with a copy of pupil and parent voice to webspoa@eastsussex.gov.uk

If the pupil has diagnosed special educational needs, include the following with your referral:

Their current additional needs plan (ANP) or Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
Evidence that you reviewed the ANP or you are applying for an EHCP.

Early Help Keywork Level 2 - Up to 5-month intensive intervention

If a referral is declined advice will be provided to the referrer.

Early Help Plan (EHP) will be developed with the family and reviewed at the end of each 10-week period of support. A whole family approach considers the needs of the referred young person and wider family.

Schools will be expected to continue to support and maintain a relationship with the family alongside the keyworker and actively participate in EHP reviews as part of a collaborative approach.

Supporting families with complex needs | Family hubs

Early Help Keywork Level 2 - Up to 5-month intensive intervention

Referral to be made by school via SPOA Portal using SoR. All supportive measures detailed in Tiers 1-3 must be completed and referral criteria met for referral to be considered and Attendance support plans to be submitted. If a referral is declined IAG will be provided by SPOA/ EH to the referrer.

EH Plan will be developed with family and reviewed at end of each 10-week period of support. EH uses a 'whole family' approach with the needs of the young person and wider family considered.

Schools will be expected to continue to support and retain a relationship with the family alongside EH to ensure smooth handovers at the end of intervention and actively participate in multi-agency and professional’s meetings including EH review and closure meetings as part of a collaborative approach.

Supporting families with complex needs | Family hubs