{"id":226129,"date":"2025-03-01T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/?p=226129"},"modified":"2025-02-28T18:40:17","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T18:40:17","slug":"trusts-fomo-fridays-help-boost-end-of-week-attendance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/trusts-fomo-fridays-help-boost-end-of-week-attendance\/","title":{"rendered":"Trust’s ‘FOMO Fridays’ help boost end-of-week attendance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An academy trust has rolled out \u201cFOMO Fridays\u201d to boost attendance \u2013 running incentives including a “golden ticket\u201d scheme with prizes such as laptops at the end of the week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday attendance at the nine-school Two Counties Trust in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire has since gone up 1.5 percentage points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scheme started as \u201cfeel-good Fridays\u201d at Friesland School, where leaders noticed absence was higher on Fridays, as is the case nationally<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhatever we did in terms of punitive measures\u2026it just wasn’t impacting [attendance],\u201d said Craig Patterson, the school\u2019s head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attendance boost biggest on Fridays<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Instead, the school decided to pack Fridays with fun, incentive-led schemes that allowed pupils to win prizes such as a laptop or day out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attendance has risen from 89.9 per cent last February to 90.7 per cent this February. The increase has been biggest on Fridays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea, said Patterson, was to make Fridays \u201cthe day children want to be in school\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under Friesland\u2019s \u201cgolden ticket\u201d scheme, staff give out 10 tickets to pupils throughout the week, \u201cfor upholding our values, for being polite, for holding doors, for saying good morning\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The system runs at points of the year when attendance is lowest, such as November and the second half of January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday lunchtime, Patterson mans a station in the school hall where pupils deposit their golden tickets, selecting which of three prizes they would like to win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This month, the prizes are a JD Sports voucher, a laptop or a donation to a charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pupils can request music, and Patterson said many relished the opportunity to chat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every class then watches a live-stream as the winners are drawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Proud stickers\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Friesland also runs \u201cproud stations\u201d and \u201cscholar of the week\u201d schemes that reward academic achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teachers are asked to hand out five \u201cproud stickers\u201d, for good work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday breaktime, pupils can exchange these for a prize in the school hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got 1,200 students, so around 300 a week come and queue,\u201d said Patterson. \u201cWe\u2019ve got music playing \u2013 a really nice atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey show [us] their work and they explain why they’re proud. We sign them a little certificate that they take home, and then they get a small prize \u2013 a pen, or a chocolate bar, or Friesland-branded water bottle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every week, teachers also nominate a \u201cscholar of the week\u201d who has \u201cdone something of note, tried really hard, or produced an excellent piece of work\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patterson announces the nominees and winners each Friday morning. Pupils cheer and are \u201creally engaged and invested\u201d in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winners then leave their tutor group and go to the hall, where they walk along a red carpet lined with clapping staff to receive a certificate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What impact is it having?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

According to the latest DfE figures<\/a>, attendance at state secondary schools averaged 91.2 per cent during the week commencing February 3 this year, meaning attendance at Friesland is still below average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is not a panacea,\u201d said Patterson. \u201cWe’ve still got so much work to do, but it is making an improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar initiatives have been rolled out at the trust\u2019s other eight secondaries, under \u201cfear of missing out (FOMO) Fridays\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trust-wide, attendance has increased in the past year by 1 per cent on Mondays to Thursdays, and 1.5 per cent on Fridays. Among pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, Friday attendance has increased by 1.8 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wesley Davies, the trust\u2019s chief executive, agrees attendance was far from \u201ca fixed problem\u201d, but FOMO Fridays were \u201ca firm stepping stone\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the effect on teachers?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Patterson said he was \u201cmindful\u201d of the schemes \u201cjust giving teachers more to do\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the reward schemes are not onerous, and give staff the chance to \u201cdo something joyful\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe way I sold it to teachers was, why did we become teachers? Did we become teachers to give out corrections or to complain about students who aren’t in [the right] shoes? We want to inspire people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also reduces work long-term \u201cbecause if we’re not doing these things, getting children to school, teachers are going to end up with more workload, catching children up, and doing absence phone calls\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A separate scheme is aimed at boosting staff attendance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Towards the end of each half-term, pupils are encouraged to fill out appreciation notes for staff. In the final week, when staff attendance often drops, those in school are given a \u201cgolden envelope\u201d containing notes of thanks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Attendance boosted after initiatives aimed at making pupils feel they ‘belong’ and ‘want to be in school’ on Fridays<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":314902,"featured_media":226186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,2882],"tags":[32,1576,890],"post-theme":[2884],"class_list":["post-226129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-solutions","tag-academies","tag-attendance","tag-schools","post-theme-solutions"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t