Do schools in England have to measure pupil belonging?

Not yet as a legal duty. The Schools White Paper (February 2026) says that by 2029 every school is expected to monitor pupils' sense of belonging and engagement, supported by a national Pupil Engagement Framework. Around six in ten schools say they already do something. The Framework will set out how, and is now expected before the end of the 2026/27 school year. Starting earlier, with the DfE's own belonging question, gives a school a baseline and trend that will still be comparable when it publishes.

Belongio › What schools must track

What schools must track on attendance, and what is coming on belonging

Q: What counts as persistent and severe absence?

Under the DfE's statutory guidance, a pupil is persistently absent when they miss 10% or more of possible sessions (attendance below 90%) and severely absent when they miss 50% or more (attendance below 50%). Schools are expected to identify both groups and act early.

Q: What is an ABIE?

An Attendance Baseline Improvement Expectation: an individual attendance improvement target the DfE sets for each mainstream state school from 2026, benchmarked against similar schools and visible in the DfE's View Your Own Data service. Missing it brings DfE contact and support rather than an immediate penalty.

Q: Does Belongio replace the DfE's Monitor your school attendance tool?

No. The DfE tool shows a school its own attendance data with national comparisons. Belongio works alongside it: it adds a measure of pupil belonging next to attendance and behaviour, a list of who to check in with and why, a record of support given, and the trust-level roll-up.

Published 9 October 2026 · For school and trust leaders in England · Sources at the end

Attendance has moved from something schools report to something they are measured on. This guide separates what the law requires, what the Department for Education's statutory guidance expects, what inspection now looks at, and what is coming next on pupil belonging and engagement.

1. What the law requires

Every school in England must keep an attendance register and take it at the start of the morning session and once during the afternoon session, using the national attendance codes. The register is a legal record. The July 2026 edition of the DfE's guidance makes one point explicit that had drifted in practice: the register must be taken at the same time for all registered pupils in each session, including pupils on part-time timetables or phased returns.

Since August 2024, schools have also been required to share daily attendance data with the Department for Education. For most schools this happens automatically through the management information system, and it feeds the DfE's own Monitor your school attendance service, which gives every school its figures alongside national comparisons.

In short: the register, the codes, and the daily data share are legal duties. Everything below builds on that record.

2. What the statutory guidance expects

Working Together to Improve School Attendance is statutory guidance. Schools, trusts and local authorities must have regard to it, which in practice means following it unless there is a good reason not to. It was re-issued in July 2026. Its central instruction is that absence is met first with support, and enforcement is the last resort.

Two thresholds every leader should know

Persistent absence: a pupil has missed 10% or more of possible sessions, so attendance is below 90%.
Severe absence: a pupil has missed 50% or more, so attendance is below 50%.

The guidance expects schools to identify both groups early and to act on them, not simply to report them.

Analyse, by cohort, and benchmark

Schools are expected to analyse attendance data half-termly, termly and across the year: by attendance code, by day of the week, by year group and by cohort, and where relevant by lesson. The guidance names the groups that need particular attention: pupils eligible for free school meals and other disadvantaged pupils, pupils with SEN, pupils with mental or physical ill health, children with a social worker, and, named for the first time in the 2026 edition, young carers.

Schools are also expected to benchmark themselves against national figures and against similar schools. The 2026 edition adds a "median of similar schools" comparison alongside the national average when deciding which pupils and schools need a Targeting Support Meeting with the local authority.

Support first, and show it

The guidance sets out a ladder: expect good attendance, monitor, listen to understand the barriers, facilitate support, formalise support (an attendance support meeting, an attendance contract), and only then enforce. A named senior attendance champion leads this in each school. What a school is expected to be able to show is the trail: which barriers were identified, what support was offered, and what happened next.

The 2026 edition also narrows when a school should ask for medical evidence of illness (where there is genuine and reasonable doubt, or where the pattern is prolonged or repeated and evidence would help put support in place) and frames remote education as a last resort within a plan to return.

3. What accountability now looks at

From 2026 the DfE sets each mainstream state school an Attendance Baseline Improvement Expectation (an ABIE): an individual improvement target, benchmarked against similar schools and visible in the DfE's View Your Own Data service. Missing it brings contact and support from the department rather than an immediate penalty.

From September 2026, Ofsted's renewed inspection framework reports on attendance and behaviour as its own area. Inspectors look in particular at disadvantaged pupils, pupils with SEN, children known to social care and young carers; at whether leaders prioritise the occasionally, persistently and severely absent; at the accuracy of registers and day-to-day follow-up; and at whether governors and trustees see and question the attendance data.

Alongside this sits the national ambition in the Schools White Paper: attendance above 94% by 2028/29, with support offered through the RISE Attendance and Behaviour Hubs.

4. What is coming: belonging and engagement

The Schools White Paper, Every child achieving and thriving (February 2026), says that by 2029 every school is expected to monitor pupils' sense of belonging and engagement. Around six in ten schools say they already do something. A national Pupil Engagement Framework and annual national data on pupil experience are to support it. The Framework was first expected during 2026, and the DfE now aims to publish it before the end of the 2026/27 school year; the 2029 expectation has not moved. Belongio asks the same belonging question the DfE used in its national study, so what a school collects now will still count when the Framework publishes.

The evidence behind that expectation was published by the DfE in August 2026. In a linked-data study of about 3,000 pupils in England, nearly four in ten did not feel they belonged at school, and those who strongly disagreed that they belonged scored about 8 Attainment 8 points lower, roughly a GCSE grade across eight subjects, after prior attainment, disadvantage and SEN were taken into account. Girls, disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEN all reported lower belonging. Belonging is associated with attainment; the study does not claim to prove cause.

What this means in practice: by 2029, "how do our pupils feel about being here" becomes a question a school is expected to answer with data, next to "how many were here". The Framework that will set out how is later than planned, but a school does not need it to start: use the DfE's own belonging question, and the trend will be there when the Framework asks for it.

5. How Belongio lines up with this

What is expected	What Belongio does
Registers, codes and the daily data share	Nothing new to key in. Attendance and behaviour come from the school's management information system through the integration route schools already use.
Persistent and severe absence, identified early	Both groups flagged under their DfE names, with early alerts that say what changed and since when.
Analysis by cohort and benchmarking	Attendance, punctuality and belonging by year group, SEN, disadvantage and gender, with national figures alongside.
Support first, with a trail	Barriers, check-ins, conversations, letters and support meetings logged against the pupil as they happen: the evidence the guidance asks for, without a spreadsheet.
Governance and trust oversight	Every school on one page for trust leaders, and the weekly trust attendance report produced automatically in the trust's own layout.
Belonging and engagement, monitored by 2029	A termly measure of reported belonging, shown as its own measure next to attendance and behaviour, not folded into the attendance figure.

Questions we are asked

Do schools have to measure pupil belonging?

Not yet as a legal duty. The White Paper's expectation is that every school monitors belonging and engagement by 2029, and the Pupil Engagement Framework will set out how. The Framework is now expected before the end of the 2026/27 school year. Starting earlier, with the DfE's own belonging question, gives a school its own baseline and trend that will still be comparable when it publishes.

What counts as persistent and severe absence?

Missing 10% or more of sessions (attendance below 90%) is persistent absence; missing 50% or more is severe absence. Both are defined in the DfE's statutory guidance.

What is an ABIE?

An Attendance Baseline Improvement Expectation: the DfE's individual improvement target for each mainstream state school from 2026, benchmarked against similar schools. It is monitored, and falling short brings support rather than a sanction.

Does Belongio replace the DfE's Monitor your school attendance tool?

No. The DfE tool shows a school its own data with national comparisons. Belongio works alongside it: it adds the belonging measure, the who-to-check-in-with list with its reasons, the record of support, and the trust roll-up.

Register your interest

Sources

Department for Education, Working together to improve school attendance, statutory guidance, edition of July 2026 (first applied August 2024).
Department for Education, Every child achieving and thriving, Schools White Paper, February 2026.
Schools Week, Framework to measure sense of belonging is delayed, 1 October 2026 (the DfE aims to publish the Pupil Engagement Framework before the end of the 2026/27 academic year).
Department for Education, School belonging and attainment at key stage 4: linked data study (RR1645), August 2026.
The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 and the Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2024, in force August 2024.
Ofsted, renewed education inspection framework and toolkits, applying from September 2026.

This page is a plain-language summary, not legal advice. Check the current guidance for the detail that applies to your school.