From Sanctions to Support: What Attendance Can Teach Us About Behaviour 

Schools rightly recognise the strong link between attendance, behaviour, and outcomes for children and young people. We understand that time spent out of learning, whether through absence, internal removal, or suspension, has a direct impact on academic progress, wellbeing, and long-term engagement with education. The key question, however, is not what happens at the point of crisis, but what we do before we reach it. 

In attendance, schools have developed a clear, graduated, and preventative approach. Attendance data is used as an early indicator of concern, not simply a record of absence. Patterns are identified quickly, conversations with families happen early, and support is put in place long before absence becomes persistent. This approach is now embedded practice in many schools, and we know it works. Early intervention, partnership with families, and targeted support improve outcomes while maintaining clear expectations. 

Behaviour, however, is not always approached in the same way. While behaviour policies, high expectations, and consistent consequences are essential, consistency can sometimes result in sanctions being applied by default, rather than support being offered early. Behaviour data is collected in abundance, yet it is not always used as a trigger for intervention in the way attendance data is. As a result, pupils can accumulate behaviour points, detentions, removals from class or suspensions without a parallel increase in support. 

For some pupils, particularly those who become repeat users of reflect rooms, sanctions alone do not lead to improved behaviour. Instead, removal from learning can become familiar, and in some cases, a route out of the classroom. Pupils are often not taught alternative behaviours, learning time is lost, and relationships with staff and families can become strained.  

When behaviour is unsupported, the impact extends far beyond the classroom. Poorly managed or unaddressed behaviour can lead to disengagement, avoidance of lessons, and eventually lower attendance. Pupils who feel anxious, unsafe, or disconnected from school are more likely to miss days or weeks of learning, creating a cycle where behaviour and attendance problems reinforce each other. In this way, failing to address behaviour issues early can undermine the attendance improvements that schools are striving to achieve. 

Too often, the deeper conversations happen once behaviour has become entrenched. At this point, patterns are harder to change, trust is more difficult to rebuild, and the impact on attendance and engagement is already significant. This is not because schools do not care, but because behaviour has not always been positioned within the same preventative framework as attendance. 

Attendance strategies offer a clear model for doing this differently. They show us the value of early identification, graduated responses, shared responsibility, and partnership with families. Applying these same principles to behaviour allows schools to shift from managing incidents to supporting change. 

A behaviour support approach recognises behaviour as communication. When a pupil begins to struggle, the response should be to ask the same questions we ask of attendance: What is happening for this child? What barriers are in the way? What support is needed to help them succeed? Early conversations with families, timely pupil voice, and careful consideration of unmet learning, emotional, or SEND needs allow support to be put in place before behaviour escalates. 

This does not mean lowering expectations. Clear boundaries remain essential. However, expectations are strengthened when they are paired with consistent support. For pupils who repeatedly require removal from lessons, a behaviour support plan provides a structured, shared response. It brings together pupil voice, family partnership, key adults, classroom adjustments, and clear strategies for regulation and re-entry to learning. Removal from class, where necessary, becomes purposeful and short, focused on helping the pupil return to learning rather than excluding them from it. 

This approach is particularly important for pupils with SEND or complex needs, where progress may be gradual but meaningful. Success is measured against individual starting points, recognising that increased engagement, reduced anxiety, and improved time in learning are significant achievements. 

Reviewing behaviour support on a regular cycle, in the same way attendance interventions are reviewed, ensures that support remains responsive. If strategies are not working, they are adapted rather than repeated without effect. Over time, this reduces reliance on sanction-only approaches, strengthens relationships, and helps pupils stay engaged with their learning. 

There is a significant national focus on restoring attendance, yet behaviour and attendance are deeply interconnected. Pupils who feel supported, understood, and successful in school are more likely to attend and engage. By applying the same urgency, structure, and preventative thinking to behaviour as we do to attendance, schools can improve inclusion, reduce exclusion, and create environments where pupils are supported to succeed, not just managed when things go wrong. 

If the goal is improved outcomes for children and young people, then behaviour deserves the same early attention, thoughtful intervention, and shared responsibility as attendance, not once it reaches crisis point, but from the very first signs that something is not working.