3-2-1: Attendance, Research & Reframing

Just last week, a new school started using Orah Attendance.

Here's what they had to say after their first day:

Director of IT: "What did you do this morning?" Attendance Manager: "Nothing! Are you trying to put me out of a job?"

The attendance manager usually spends a couple of hours in the morning inputting absences manually, but parents have been doing that themselves now. Students have been creating absences themselves from the Kiosk when they arrive late, which the attendance manager used to input manually input.

Now, the attendance manager has time to refocus on high-value work, moving from a reactive role to a proactive one. Her time is now spent triaging attendance records and following up students who have unexplained absences promptly. 

This is the secret to achieving a real-time understanding of student whereabouts: creating a shared responsibility for attendance. 

What's coming up:

• A webinar showing you how Orah works with your core systems (register here).
• We're hosting school leaders breakfasts in Sydney, Toronto, Auckland, New York (Tentative), Brisbane & Melbourne in the near future. Email me (tiago@orah.com) with the name of your city if you'd like me to send you an invite. Breakfast is on us.
• We're adding Conversation Monitoring to Direct Messages.

Three Duty of Care Tips

1) Want to create a shared responsibility for attendance?

Make it intuitive and easy for families, staff members and students to use. 

Make it easier for parents to submit absences (no login required).

Parents use a "Magic Link" to submit absences or leave requests.

Make it easier for staff (and relief teachers) to mark the roll.

Teachers can take attendance without switching tabs–and see who is not expected in class in real-time.

Make it easier for students to check in to class. 

Orah uses NFC tiles or iPad Kiosks to automatically update student locations.

2) Want to reduce absences?

Foster a culture of attendance.

Kirsten Hancock , an education researcher at The Smith Family Charitable Trust in Australia, published a report last year on how low attendance might be addressed there. As part of her research tour, she visited schools across New Zealand and the USA.

Hancock suggests a proactive, "multi-tiered approach" that tailors the response to what a student actually needs to get them back to school.

For lower-level absences, fostering a culture of attendance and making school a welcoming, nice place to be might be enough. Others might need help addressing learning difficulties, or health conditions such as asthma, that prevent regular attendance. At the most intensive end of the spectrum, a multi-agency approach may also be required: getting a student and their family into stable, secure housing, for instance.

3) Want to foster a more positive school environment?

Try hosting regular well-being sessions and activities, such as mindfulness training and mental health awareness weeks. 

 Ask your students to help you lead this, you may be pleasantly surprised. 

Two Short Examples

1) How Saint Michael's College fostered a more positive school environment

"The big question was, 'How do we proactively identify and support students who are struggling emotionally?' This is where Orah comes in."

The team at Saint Michael's used Mood Check trends to inform the different well-being sessions they ran at the school. Watch the full story here.

2) How do 350 schools address drops in Attendance rates?

With over 350 schools participating, this July 2024 Understanding Attendance report from the ImpactEd Group is the largest research cohort of its kind. It brings together UK schools with a shared commitment to addressing the absence challenge and sharing what works.

Here are the 4 themes the report identifies:

1. Creating culture and embedding a sense of belonging
2. Building safety - paying attention to the physical and social environment of school
3. A relational and targeted approach
4. It’s everyone’s job – developing a community around attendance

Read the full report here.

One Favourite Quote

See you next Month — Tiago from Orah

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