Look beyond absence. See the whole child.
The National Attendance Portal exists to bring attendance support, ideas, evidence, tools and human understanding into one trusted place for schools, professionals, families and young people.
From one publication to one national home.
The Portal grew because the attendance community needed more than another set of disconnected documents.
Attendance Magazine begins
A free professional publication creates space for practical thinking, evidence, challenge and voices from across education.
A wider need becomes visible
Schools, practitioners and families are searching across multiple places for tools, evidence, learning and support.
The Portal takes shape
The magazine becomes the foundation for a single home connecting information with practical action.
A national community of support
Not another system telling people what they are doing wrong, but a place helping people do difficult attendance work better.
Because attendance support should not be scattered.
Attendance intersects with education, health, SEND, safeguarding, family life, mental health, poverty, transport, curriculum, relationships and belonging. Yet support is often fragmented across organisations, websites, guidance and professional boundaries.
The Portal brings those perspectives together so that people can start with the problem they are trying to solve, not with the name of the organisation that might hold the answer.
Resources, research, professional learning, news, practical tools and real voices - brought together with purpose.
Four beliefs shape everything we build.
These are practical tests for every tool, article, resource and service.
Belonging before blame
Absence is often a signal. We look beneath behaviour and data to understand what a child may be experiencing.
Free knowledge matters
Attendance Magazine and a meaningful open-access collection remain free because useful thinking should travel.
Practical beats performative
We favour resources that help someone act tomorrow morning rather than material that simply sounds impressive.
Every voice adds value
Schools, families, young people and wider professionals each see a different part of the attendance picture.
Built for everyone around the child.
Attendance improvement belongs to more than one role or service.
Schools, colleges & trusts
Leadership, casework, data, inclusion, family engagement, CPD and practical improvement tools.
Enter Education HubChildren & young people
Belonging, pupil voice, confidence, attendance journeys and coming back to school.
Enter Young People HubWider professionals
Health, local authorities, social care, public health, safeguarding and multi-agency attendance work.
Enter Public Health HubOpen support first. Deeper implementation when needed.
The Portal deliberately separates its open-access offer from Premium Membership.
Free helps you understand.
Anyone can use the open-access parts of the Portal without membership.
- Attendance Magazine
- Open tools and practical resources
- News, evidence and guidance
- Core family and professional support
Membership helps you implement.
Premium adds greater depth for individuals and organisations who need to build, train, intervene and evaluate.
- Interactive builders
- Editable templates and resources
- Role-based CPD
- Casework and intervention support
- Leadership and assurance tools
We are not a government body.
The National Attendance Portal is an independent education platform. That independence allows us to bring together official guidance, research, professional experience and different perspectives without presenting ourselves as an arm of government.
Professional resources, not professional replacement
Portal resources support thinking and practice. They do not replace statutory guidance, safeguarding procedures, professional judgement or specialist legal, medical or clinical advice.
Colin Cattanach
Founder · Editor · Attendance leader
"Attendance cannot be reduced to a percentage. Behind every number is a child, a family and a story."
After more than three decades in education, Colin created Attendance Magazine as a practical and independent space for attendance thinking. The response helped expose a wider gap: people did not only need articles, they needed one place to find tools, learning, evidence and support.
That idea became the National Attendance Portal.
Belonging: the story behind the Portal
The book explores the personal and professional experiences behind the Portal and the belief that relationships, inclusion, opportunity and belonging sit at the heart of attendance.
The wider book initiative also supports Prostate Cancer UK through a share of proceeds.
Clear about who we are.
The National Attendance Portal and Attendance Magazine are trading names of SENDsational Education Ltd, an independent micro-education company registered in England and Wales.
Use it. Question it. Help it grow.
The Portal is designed to grow with the attendance community: schools, professionals, families and young people contributing to a more informed, connected and compassionate approach to attendance.
A story about education, attendance and belonging.
Belonging: The Story Behind the National Attendance Portal explores the experiences, people and ideas that led to a different way of thinking about school attendance.
Attendance is often discussed through percentages, persistent absence figures and interventions. But behind every statistic sits a child, a family and a story.
Belonging explores why relationships, inclusion, leadership, opportunity and feeling genuinely connected to school can matter just as much as the systems we use to monitor absence.
By buying the book, you are supporting the continuing conversation about attendance and belonging while contributing to an organisation working to improve the lives of men affected by prostate cancer.
Why Prostate Cancer UK?
Prostate Cancer UK works to stop prostate cancer damaging the lives of men and their families through research, awareness, information, support and campaigning.
men in the UK will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime.
men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in the UK each year.
men are living with or after prostate cancer across the UK.
men die from prostate cancer in the UK every year.
YOUR
RISK
Understanding your risk matters.
Anyone with a prostate can develop prostate cancer, but some men have a higher risk. Risk increases with age, particularly after 50. Black men and men with a father or brother who has had prostate cancer are also at increased risk.
Prostate cancer does not always cause symptoms in its earlier stages, so understanding personal risk can be important.
What Prostate Cancer UK does.
Research
Funding research aimed at improving diagnosis, treatment and ultimately saving more lives.
Support
Providing trusted information and specialist support for men affected by prostate cancer and their families.
Awareness
Helping more men understand prostate cancer, their personal risk and when to seek advice.
Change
Campaigning for better diagnosis, treatment, services and outcomes for men throughout the UK.
Support Prostate Cancer UK directly.
Buying Belonging is one way of contributing. You can also make a direct donation to Prostate Cancer UK.
One book. One story. One opportunity to support a cause affecting hundreds of thousands of families.