20 Safeguarding Attendance and Child Missing Education Escalation
Version 1.0 · issued 31 October 2026 · next review 31 October 2027
Purpose
This policy makes sure the school records and monitors attendance and engagement for pupils in live group lessons and in recordings and remote learning activities.
It also makes sure the school acts in time when a pupil goes missing from learning, so that safeguarding risks are identified and escalated.
Who it applies to
All staff involved in timetabling, teaching, registration, monitoring and safeguarding.
Definitions
- Attendance in live lessons: the pupil joins the scheduled live session and takes part as required, including turning a camera on when asked.
- Engagement in recordings and remote learning: the pupil accesses recordings where required, completes the set work or submissions, or meets the other engagement indicators the school has set for that course.
- Child missing education risk: the pupil is not taking part in live learning, or in required learning activities, for a sustained period.
Registration and engagement tracking
Live lessons
- Staff record which pupils attended each session.
- Staff record any non-compliance, such as a refusal to turn a camera on when asked.
- Staff record any safeguarding concern noticed during the session or in the group chat.
Recordings and remote learning
- The school tracks engagement indicators such as recording access and usage, completion of set activities or submitted work, and completion of any required checks or quizzes.
Weekly monitoring
- The school runs a weekly check for patterns: pupils with repeated non-attendance, pupils whose engagement is falling, and pupils who have disengaged suddenly.
Escalation steps, led by safeguarding
Step 1: early contact, a short-term concern
- Trigger: the pupil does not attend a live lesson, or shows no engagement indicators for a short period.
- Action: contact the pupil and the responsible adult by email to growingroots1928@outlook.com, and by any other route in the school's communications plan; ask whether the pupil is safe and able to access learning; offer technical or learning support.
Step 2: second follow-up, an ongoing concern
- Trigger: attendance or engagement remains absent across an agreed escalation window, normally five to ten working days.
- Action: increase the frequency of contact, and document the responses received and the barriers behind the absence, whether technical, family circumstances or a safeguarding concern.
Step 3: safeguarding check, with the DSL
- Trigger, any one of: no response from the responsible adults; information that suggests a risk of harm; concerns about wellbeing, exploitation or abuse; sudden and unexplained disengagement; or a pattern that mirrors safeguarding indicators.
- Action: the Designated Safeguarding Lead reviews the case and decides the safeguarding next steps, contacting any relevant internal leads and proceeding with referrals where needed.
Step 4: child missing education decision
- Trigger: sustained absence from live lessons, or from required engagement with recordings and activities.
- Action: the Designated Safeguarding Lead and the Principal assess whether the threshold for child missing education procedures is met, and where appropriate the school proceeds with those safeguarding actions in line with statutory guidance and the school's registration status.
Safeguarding principles during escalation
- The school does not assume that disengagement is free of safeguarding risk.
- Staff treat repeated absence as potentially meaningful.
- Where a safeguarding concern exists, the school escalates to the Designated Safeguarding Lead at once and acts first to protect the pupil.
Recording and data handling
Every attendance and engagement action is recorded: the dates, the lesson or activity, the evidence of engagement, the contact attempts made, the responses received, and the decisions and actions of the Designated Safeguarding Lead where they apply.
Records are stored securely and accessed only by those with a need to know.
Review
This policy is reviewed at least once a year, and updated whenever a case shows a weakness in the monitoring process.
Signed for and on behalf of Growing Roots ltd
Prof. Rushna Sulyman
Safeguarding Attendance and Child Missing Education Escalation · version 1.0 · issued 31 October 2026 · next review 31 October 2027