What is an Attendance Package?

 

Our attendance-work packages can be tailored to each school or setting’s individual requirements through flexible allocations and in creating a Partnership Agreement with CSAWS, outlining priorities for work.  Current schools and settings have CSAWS support in a range of allocations, including days per week, hours per fortnight and hours per half term or per term.  Our customers can choose what suits them best and CSAWS will create the support within these requirements.  

 

Every CSAWS customer signing up to our Attendance Packages receive a named allocated CSAWS Attendance and Welfare Officer (AWO) to work with.  Your AWO will support you in defining the focus of work to complete. We offer direct casework with children, young people and their families using the assessment skills, knowledge and strategies developed through our professional lives to understand the barriers to school attendance, challenge parentally condoned absence, promote and secure school attendance.  

What does an AWO do?

 

CSAWS AWOs will work with you to prioritise what support you need in order to raise attendance.  They will look at your attendance data to help inform those needs and support your staff in understanding and using the data, give advice on cases and register coding and relevant legislation.  Typically an AWO new to you will set up tracking sheets to monitor attendance effectively, offer templates for letters and ways of challenging poor attendance early and update the Attendance Policy.  A CSAWS AWO can be used to chair parent attendance meetings and/or formal Attendance Panels.  They regularly sit on inclusion meetings, attend Team Around the Family meetings, Early Help meetings, Core Groups and Child Protection conferences as needed.  

 

A CSAWS AWO will do home visits regularly on behalf of the school/setting.  They can work one-to-one with pupils and work with parents.  They are skilled at dealing with challenging families and are very experienced with cold-calling home visits as well as planned visits.  

 

All CSAWS AWOs have understanding of the Education Legal Systems in each geographic area we cover.  AWOs are available to schools to lead on legal interventions and process paperwork to the relevant Local Authority.  

 

CSAWS AWOs can assist schools in preparing for Ofsted and in the event of an Ofsted visit can be available to be in school if needed.

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CSAWS Attendance Package can include all or some of the following:

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• Home visits - planned and unplanned

• Contact work with families by telephone, letters, emails

• 1:1 work with pupils

• Liaising with multiagency involvement (to include making appropriate referrals) 

• Advice to parents, pupils and schools regarding barriers to attendance 

• Assessment led casework

• Develop re-integration plans and target setting for pupils

• All preparatory and enforcement administration for legal proceedings including appropriate casework and witness statements

• Attendance panels

• Punctuality sweeps

• Assembly talks 

• Attendance at parents’evening/new intake 

• Data analysis

• Attendance and punctuality targeting

• Attendance at staff meetings

• Termly reports to Head / Governors 

• Register checks

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Guidance in attendance legislation including:

 

• Parental Responsibility Measures

• Applying the Local Authority Code of Conduct for issuing Penalty Notices and prosecution of non-school attendance cases

• Preparing legal paperwork and witness statements for court in line with Education Act

• Applying the Pupil Registrations, Keeping Pupil Registers and current government guidance   

• The Education Act

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CSAWS Safeguarding:

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• Case discussions

• Advice to school staff

• Liaison with DSL

• Attendance at Child Protection Conferences (when an open AWOcase)

• Attendance to Core Groups (where an open AWOcase)

• Preparation of Safeguarding reports (where an open AWOcase)

• Home Visits

• Liaison with Children's Services (and other relevant agencies)

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CSAWS Strategic:

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• Attendance data analysis: identifying key trends/patterns/issues  

• Register Audit: improving attendance thorough good housekeeping  

• Review of policies, procedures, interventions

• Support writing action plans 

• Training advice and guidance to implement plans

• Pre and post Ofsted Support