Attendance Intervention Ladder
Escalation stages and what to try at each — including the point where escalation becomes counterproductive.
Across seven escalation stages, absence driven by anxiety and absence by choice produce identical data and need opposite responses — and applying the enforcement ladder to the first reliably worsens it.
Attendance Intervention Ladder
Frequently asked
When does absence become persistent?
In England, below 90% of possible sessions; severe absence is below 50%. Other countries use different thresholds or none. The label triggers a process rather than explaining anything.
Do sanctions improve attendance?
For absence driven by anxiety or unmet need, the evidence and practice guidance point the other way. Where absence is logistical or motivational the picture is more mixed. Identifying which situation you are in is the step that determines whether anything works.
What is a graded return?
A planned, incremental return — part of a day, a specific lesson, a different entrance — building up over weeks with the pupil and family. It is standard practice in emotionally-based school avoidance and is undermined by a full-time expectation set as a precondition.
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