What is the first-day contact obligation for schools?

Under Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSiE), schools must follow up on unexplained absences on the first day they occur. If a child does not arrive at school and no absence notification has been received from the parent or carer, the school must contact the parent or carer promptly. If no response is received and the child cannot be accounted for, the school must escalate to the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) and, if necessary, make a welfare check referral.

School Absence Management — First-Day Contact & Attendance Notifications

Q: How does automated absence notification work?

When a child's absence is registered in the MIS at the morning register, MySchoolUpdate can trigger an automated notification to the parent or carer — alerting them that their child has been marked absent. This serves two purposes: it confirms to parents who submitted a reason that it has been received, and it prompts parents who forgot to notify the school to call and explain the absence. It reduces the number of unexplained absences the office needs to chase manually.

Q: What is an 'unexplained absence' and how should schools handle it?

An unexplained absence is one where the school has not received any communication from the parent or carer to account for the child's absence. Under KCSiE, schools must contact the family on the first day. If contact cannot be made within a reasonable time, the DSL should be informed. If the child's whereabouts remain unknown and there are any safeguarding concerns associated with the pupil, a police welfare check may be required.

The first-day contact obligation

Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSiE) — first-day contact

Schools must follow up on unexplained absences on the first day they occur. If a child does not arrive and no absence has been reported, the school must contact the parent or carer promptly. If contact fails and the child cannot be accounted for, the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) must be informed.

In practice, this means that every unexplained absence must trigger a contact attempt on the same morning. For many primary schools with 300+ pupils, tracking this manually at 9am across multiple classes and making individual calls is a significant office workload burden.

The unexplained absence workflow

Morning register taken in class

Class teacher marks attendance in the MIS (SIMS, Bromcom, Arbor, etc.) at the start of each session.

Automated notification sent to parents of absent pupils

MySchoolUpdate detects absent pupils via MIS sync and sends a notification to the parent: "We have marked [name] absent this morning. If you have not already done so, please contact the school office to let us know the reason."

Parents with a reason call or reply

Parents who forgot to call do so now. The absent list in the office reduces to only genuinely unexplained absences.

Remaining unexplained absences reviewed

The office contacts families of pupils who have not responded to the automated notification. These are the cases requiring active follow-up.

Escalation to DSL if required

If the family cannot be reached and there are any safeguarding concerns, the DSL is informed. A welfare check referral may follow.

How MIS integration enables automation

MySchoolUpdate connects to SIMS, Bromcom, Arbor, and 20+ other MIS systems via the Wonde integration. Register data flows from the MIS in real time. An absence registered at the morning session triggers the notification workflow automatically — the office does not need to manually identify absent pupils or compose individual messages.

This means the first-day contact process happens immediately, consistently, and with a delivery record — rather than depending on a member of office staff manually cross-referencing an absence list and making phone calls.

The safeguarding dimension

For pupils with any safeguarding concern or child protection plan, unexplained absences carry heightened risk. Schools must treat these absences with urgency. A system that automates the initial contact step and creates a timestamped record of when the parent was notified — and when they did or did not respond — provides evidence that the school met its obligations. This is relevant in any subsequent Local Authority or Ofsted review of a safeguarding case.

Frequently asked questions

What is the first-day contact obligation?

Under KCSiE, schools must follow up on unexplained absences on the first day. If a child is absent with no notification from the family, the school must contact the parent, and if the child can't be accounted for, escalate to the DSL.

How does automated absence notification work?

When a child is marked absent in the MIS, MySchoolUpdate sends an automated notification to the parent. This prompts parents who forgot to notify the school to call and explain the absence — reducing the number of unexplained absences the office needs to chase.

What is an unexplained absence and how should schools handle it?

An absence with no communication from the family. Schools must contact the family on the first day. If contact fails, the DSL must be informed. If safeguarding concerns exist and the child remains unaccounted for, a welfare check may be required.

How does MIS integration help with absence management?

MIS data flows to MySchoolUpdate in real time via Wonde. Absences registered at morning register automatically trigger the notification workflow — no manual office step needed. Delivery logs provide evidence that the first-day contact obligation was met.

Automate first-day contact this term

MySchoolUpdate's MIS integration and automated messaging handles the routine part of absence notification — so your office can focus on the cases that genuinely need human attention.

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