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Reducing Barriers to Education- Attendance Support

Support is available for children and young people in Salford who experience barriers to school or college attendance. We know the earlier difficulties are identified and support is put in place, the more successful we can be in developing their access to education and ongoing life experiences.

Collaboration between the following services provides support to schools/colleges, parents/carers, children and young people.

  • School Attendance Team
  • Educational Psychology Service (EPS)
  • Early Help Team (including Early Help School Co-ordinators, Salford School Partnership (SSP), Early Help and Family Help Practitioners)
  • SEND Leaders
  • Primary Inclusion Team (PIT)
  • Learning Support Service (LSS)
  • Autism and Social Communication (ASC) Team
  • CAMHS IReach
  • Place2Be and 42nd Street
  • Barnardo's Attendance Mentors (Watchtower Project)
  • Salford Parent Carer Forum and SIASS

Reducing Barriers to Education Attendance Support Guidance 24-25 includes recommended approaches to support prevention, early intervention and targeted support (for both emerging concerns and extended non-attendance). How additional attendance support from a multiagency team is also explained. For a copy of the guidance please email EPS@Salford.gov.uk

Barriers to Education Project and WARMTH Principles

Salford EPS is part of The Barriers to Education Project - which is working with families and a wide multiagency team to develop better guidance to support children and young people who experience barriers to attendance and accessing their education. A toolkit and website is due to launch in January 2025. Further information about the project, including three recorded webinars and one specifically on burnout recovery, can be found on Barriers to Education (padlet.com) and Autism at Manchester attendance special.

The core principles of this project drive Salford’s approach to supporting attendance difficulties. We recognise children and young people want to do well and to support this, the right support needs to be in place at the right time. This requires a strong preventative approach, alongside early identification and planned support when difficulties arise. Wellbeing is key to supporting access to education and needs to come first.

Key messages and WARMTH Principles

  1. Can't, not won't - children do well if they can.
  2. Preventing and responding to attendance difficulties needs to be a whole school approach. Early intervention is key.
  3. Support first. Trust parental instincts and work with families.
  4. Prioritise wellbeing and address wider wellbeing needs (belonging, friendships, self-identity) - this supports access to learning.
  5. Children and young people's views needs to be central, and plans to be agreed at their pace.

WARMTH stands for:

  • W - Wellbeing First
  • A - Affirming Practice
  • R - Relational Approach
  • M - Mutual Understanding and Partnership
  • T - Timely Response
  • H - Holistic Support

Training and virtual problem solving – for schools and services

Training and support sessions are available each month for free throughout the year. All below dates can be booked via: EPS@Salford.gov.uk 

Training for schools and colleges:

Date Time Where
Tuesday 8 October 2024 9.30am to 12.30pm Community Room 2, Broughton Hub
Wednesday 22 January 2025 9.30am to 12.30pm Community Room 2, Broughton Hub
Tuesday 4 March 2025 9.30am to 12.30pm Community Room, Swinton Gateway
Wednesday 14 May 2025 9.30am to 12.30pm Community Room 1, Walkden Gateway
Wednesday 2 July 2025 9.30am to 12.30pm Community Room 1, Walkden Gateway

Plus: Virtual problem-solving sessions with a multiagency team are also available for free on Teams.

Date Time
Tuesday 26 November 2024 2.30pm to 3.30pm
Thursday 13 February 2025 2.30pm to 3.30pm
Tuesday 8 April 2025 2.30pm to 3.30pm
Tuesday 24 June 2025 2.30pm to 3.30pm

Training for individual schools can be requested via be requested via EPS Planning Meetings and Thrive in Education Meetings.

Virtual drop-ins for professionals in services supporting schools are held on the fourth Thursday of every month (3pm to 4pm). For the for the Teams invite please email EPS@Salford.gov.uk

We understand that attendance difficulties are stressful for the whole family and following positive feedback, will be running parent/carer meetings again this year. 

These are an opportunity to meet other families and to understand the support available for children and young people in Salford.

We have also included information about other types of support for you and your child at the bottom of this page.

To book your place, please email: EPS@Salford.gov.uk 

Date Time Where
Tuesday 15 October 2024 10am to 12pm Community Room 2, Broughton Hub
Wednesday 13 November 2024 10am to 12pm Community Room 3, Broughton Hub
Wednesday 4 December 2024 10am to 12pm Virtual on Microsoft Teams
Wednesday 15 January 2025 10am to 12pm Community Room 3, Eccles Gateway
Wednesday 12 February 2025 10am to 12pm Virtual on Microsoft Teams
Wednesday 12 March 2025 10am to 12pm Community Room 3, Eccles Gateway
Wednesday 2 April 2025 10am to 12pm Virtual on Microsoft Teams
Wednesday 7 May 2025 10am to 12pm Community Room 3, Eccles Gateway
Wednesday 11 June 2025 10am to 12pm Virtual on Microsoft Teams
Wednesday 9 July 2025 10am to 12pm Community Room 3, Eccles Gateway

  • Attendance Graduated Response Document: Sets out expectations for the schools and the Local Authority.
  • Reducing Barriers to Education. Attendance Support 2024-25: Details the universal and targeted support available in Salford, and how to access this.
  • Parent/ Carer Support Overview 2024-25: Includes dates for monthly parent/carer drop ins and other support available for families.
  • Tools for gathering families views and templates: These support the development of individual support plans (Early Identification of Needs Tool, Mapping the Landscape, Card Sort).
  • Build up Timetables (BUTTs): Ensure any use of build-up timetables is clearly recorded and submitted to the LA (School attendance team
  • SA Action Plans: Are required for any child or young person where attendance is below 50%, but can be used earlier to support robust assess-plan-do-review cycles. 

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