Advanced truancy management: why schools are adopting Absence Call

The national absence figure stands at around 4.8%, or 388,800 pupil absences every year. That’s a staggering figure, and it’s easy to see how the school system could become overwhelmed with keeping these kids in school.

Current government measures to curb term-time holiday absences aren’t working, either. In 2017-2018 – the last time these statistics were measured - there were over 260,000 penalty notices issued for school holidays. However, parents continue to pay these fines in exchange for cheaper holiday prices, as the punishment isn’t severe enough to scare them off.

Seeing an accurate representation of your attendance and punctuality figures is more important now than ever. In the wake of COVID-19 closures, measuring attendance is going to be at the forefront of every educator's mind.

For office managers and administrators, the age-old solution is to painstakingly call and contact individual parents to try to track down these missing pupils. This time would be much better spent on higher-value administrative tasks, but it’s always been important to focus on absentees to ensure student safeguarding.

At a time when the allocation of school resources and staff is being more closely scrutinised than ever before, how can schools and trusts ensure proper safeguarding for these at-risk students?

The answer is advanced truancy management and automation.

Automating absence management

Modern technology has provided a solution to the age-old problem of school truancy – and it’s surprisingly cost-effective when compared to the cost of human staff. It’s also incredibly effective at reducing unauthorised absences.

That’s why many schools are turning to automation software such as Absence Call, a cutting-edge absence management system. When a child is marked as absent without reason, Absence Call kicks in, sending their family an automated phone call.

Impossible to ignore

One of the benefits of automated absence management is that you can’t ignore it. For example, if the parents don’t answer and provide a reason for their child not to be in school, Absence Call continues to persistently call them every 30 minutes.

It’s important to note that parents aren’t charged for this call, so you're able to reach every household no matter their circumstances.

It’s easy to get started

Good news – thanks to our upcoming integration with Absence Call, we can activate it for any existing user. If you have a PS Connect account, you can get started straight away. Just get in touch with us today to get started.

Absence Call has had a long-standing reputation as a market-leading absence management solution; soon, together with PS Connect, schools and trusts can manage every aspect of their parent communication from a single platform. If you’d like to find out more, please don't hesitate to get in touch; we'd love to show you how it works.