The Surrey Attendance Service supports schools, parents and young people together with multiple agencies across the Children and Families Lifelong Learning directorate. The team specialises in supporting schools with non-attendance, receives referrals for electively home educated children, and children missing education. We also have two specialist Exclusion Officers who support schools regarding suspensions and permanent exclusions, whilst also identifying children at risk of these sanctions.
Our aim is for every child to have an equal opportunity to access education. We work to ensure that parents meet their parental responsibilities under various Education Acts on our legal proceedings webpage.
Page Contents
- Attendance Advice & Intervention Officer
- What we do - our service offering
- Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance (EBSNA)
- Help and contacts
Attendance Advice & Intervention Officer
The Attendance Advice & Intervention Officer's aim is to help children attend school full-time and support schools in resolving issues which may be affecting a child's wish to attend school. If the aim is not achieved, the Surrey Attendance Service will consider the school’s evidence in consultation with the Court Team to inform whether or not to pursue legal proceedings.
All Surrey schools have an allocated Attendance Advice & Intervention Officer to support schools and parents to ensure every child goes to school regularly. Attendance Advice & Intervention Officers can accept referrals for children that meet the criteria for legal proceedings from schools or other agencies, parents and members of the public, if a child is not attending school.
Attendance Advice & Intervention Officers can provide advice on:
- Supporting attendance improvement
- Legal aspects of school attendance
- Identifying medically vulnerable students
- Signposting to agencies
- Useful resources available
What we do - our service offering
We fulfil both statutory and non-statutory functions in relation to compulsory school-aged children and young people. The Surrey Attendance Service offers all schools, including independents, academies and free schools, a statutory service as follows.
- Guidance on investigation of causes for absence for cases meeting the criteria for legal intervention
- Guidance on case work management for statutory cases
- “Targeted Support Meetings” with key personnel to report and plan actions for open cases, including matters relating to safeguarding concerns, checks and monitoring students whose attendance is below 90% (persistently absent), and those in the (severely absent percentile) sub 50%
- All aspects of legal intervention for attendance offences
- Advice and guidance on all matters relating to legislation and processes regarding pupil registration, attendance coding, and Pupil De-registration procedures
- Strategic guidance and support to improve whole school attendance and reduce severe and persistent absence
- Data analysis using school, and DfE (Department for Education) View Your Education Data platforms
Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance (EBSNA)
If your child or young person is experiencing EBSNA or school-based anxiety you may find the following webpage on the Local Offer pages useful for advice, guidance and access to support.
You can also find advice on other web pages on supporting your child's education, school attendance and absence, and exclusion and suspension.
Help and contacts
If you need help in ensuring your child attends school regularly please contact the office in whose area your child's school is situated.
Surrey Attendance Service - East
Epsom and Ewell, Elmbridge, Spelthorne, Tandridge, Reigate and Banstead, Mole Valley
Telephone: 01737 737778
Email: SurreyAttendance.ServiceEast@surreycc.gov.uk
Surrey Attendance Service - West
Waverley, Guildford, Woking, Surrey Heath and Runnymede
Telephone: 01483 518187
Email: SurreyAttendance.ServiceEast@surreycc.gov.uk
If you are concerned that a statutory school age child (who lives in Surrey) is missing from education because they may not have a school place and are not receiving suitable alternative education provision, then please let us know by completing a children missing education form.
You can also send us your comments and compliments or complain about our services.
Files available to download
-
Children Missing Education (CME) Policy - February 2025 (PDF)
Assisting all schools and other professionals who work with children and families within Surrey to meet statutory duties relating to children missing education