“Showing up is not all of life – but it counts for a lot.”
– Hillary Clinton
Every now and again we decide that we need to focus on an issue in school, currently there are plenty of hot topics but at the start of the year one issue that we decided was important was attendance. If we learned one thing from the COVID years it was that schools work best when we have pupils and teachers in schools doing activities together and not separated by a screen. Learning works best when there is the immediate interaction allowed in the classroom. This is good for the pupil, it is good for the teacher. Immediate, informal assessment of learning is possible, checks on understanding are easier and if a young person is in class then teachers can see how confident they are feeling about their learning and more widely.
We’ve talked about the importance of regular attendance to pupils, we’ve given an idea of how significant missed school can be in the homework diary. Letters have gone home, and we have followed up on attendance issues when we have seen patterns or have become worried about time away from school. Our attendance rates have improved – not that they were critical in the first place but it is good to note this nonetheless.
Education in school is not solely confined to the classroom. It is a truism that character development is both caught and taught and that it is sometimes sought. As a community in which we have a broad range of views and experiences, our young people have the opportunity to learn a good deal through their normal daily interactions with each other. In a world in which the general movement appears to be towards isolationism and self-interest, it is encouraging that our community is one that looks more widely and welcomes a broad spectrum of views. Being at school makes the process of education and the opportunity for learning so much easier.
School life is a pacy affair. Miss a lesson and there is a good deal to catch up, multiply that and consider how much is missed in a day or a week. In most cases the academic work can be recovered, but that other important learning is irreplaceable. Opportunities can be lost, chances for challenge not taken up. Traditionally we have recorded attendance with a simple diagonal line in a register. A tiny pen stroke that belies the real significance of being on site, that records the experiences of being in school and taking part in all that school life has to offer.
This all sounds like a severe case of FOMO. Perhaps we’d be better to think about it as COMO: the consequences of missing out could be significant, and whilst I’m certainly not calling on poorly children to come into school, I am keen that avoidable absences are, well, avoided.
Nicholas Hammond
Headmaster
