Q: What is your role?
A: Day to day my role is very varied, depending on what is happening in school at the time. I oversee attendance data, contact parents and carers regarding absences, liaise with taxi companies and school transport, support students and visitors on arrival, manage admissions forms, administer student medication, update timetables, and produce staff bulletins and parent newsletters.

Q: You were identified for Team Talks by your colleagues. Why is this work important to you?
A: This work began when I took on attendance data and recognised that traditional AM/PM marks were not reflective of our students’ actual attendance. With many students attending Alternative Provision or on modified timetables, I wanted to create a system that allowed real-time tracking and a fairer way of recognising attendance across all students.

“Creating a fairer way of recognising attendance has helped us better reflect students’ actual engagement.”

Q: What impact does this work have?
A: It has changed how we recognise attendance. For example, a student recorded as 50% attendance through AM/PM marks may actually have 100% attendance based on their timetable. This allows us to recognise students more fairly and monitor patterns more effectively. Working closely with colleagues, we can now be more targeted in addressing attendance concerns.

Q: What has shaped your approach? What have you learned along the way?
A: I enjoy working with data and improving processes, which helped when developing this system. However, this was new to me and I relied heavily on support from colleagues. Working together and adapting along the way has been key.

“Working collaboratively and adapting as we go has been essential to making this work effective.”

Q: Which MET value connects most strongly to your work and why?
A: Be Inclusive. This work highlights that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Supporting students fairly means recognising that every student’s circumstances are different.

Q: What advice would you give to colleagues interested in similar work?
A: When taking on something new, fresh eyes can be an advantage. Don’t feel you have to do things the way they’ve always been done.

Q: Any final reflections?
A: Now that attendance monitoring is more streamlined, we are focusing on improving attendance further and maintaining positive patterns through targeted support.

Thank you, Hannah, for sharing your work with us in this Team Talk.

#TeamMET #HamiltonSchool #SchoolOperations #AttendanceMatters #EducationSupport