School attendance is rightly high on the agenda for schools, trusts and government. But if we want to make lasting progress, we also need to look closely at some of the everyday factors shaping whether young people are ready to learn. One of the most significant and often overlooked is sleep. Through our initial work on the Department for Education’s attendance mentoring programme, which works with pupils who are persistently absent, sleep hygiene is regularly emerging as a key issue. It is the most frequently identified barrier to attendance, affecting about 29 per cent of mentees. For many of us in education, the relationship between sleep and attendance seems straightforward. When young people are consistently tired, the school day becomes harder to navigate. Many of the pupils we work with tell us it makes getting out of bed more difficult, which then has a knock-on effect on punctuality. Some begin avoiding school altogether. Screen use There are a variety of causes, but evening screen use is raised most often, with pupils telling us that they scroll social media until late into the evening, watch short-form videos, game online with friends or join group chats. A lack of clear device cut-off points or established bed-time routines mean that many remain online well past 10pm and often into the early hours. Over time this pattern reduces total sleep and creates a difficult cycle. Reduced sleep can lead to morning fatigue and anxiety about the school day. For many, missing lessons can increase academic pressure, which has the potential to drive more late-night use of devices in an effort to seek distraction or downtime. However, we think that stabilising sleep routines can turn around these challenges. Attendance mentors work with pupils who identify sleep as an issue to understand their current sleep patterns and find simple practical changes. Sleep diaries can help them see how bedtime habits link directly to how they feel the next day. In many instances, gradual adjustments, such as introducing a realistic phone switch-off time or moving devices out of bedrooms, can be more effective than imposing drastic changes overnight. Calming routines Mentors also support pupils to develop calming evening routines and encourage families to reinforce consistent expectations around sleep. Pupils often report noticeable improvements in mood and readiness for school once these routines are in place. These experiences highlight an important point for practitioners working on improving school attendance. Attendance challenges are often complex, but sleep is one area where relatively small adjustments can have a meaningful impact. At the same time, the growing role of digital technology in young people’s lives means that this cannot be addressed by schools alone. The government’s consultation, growing up in the online world, reflects a wider recognition that the online environment is shaping children’s development in ways that we are only beginning to understand. Mentors tell us there is a growing case for embedding sleep education more clearly within PSHE, ensuring pupils understand the links between sleep, mental health and learning. Schools can also support families with practical guidance around healthy routines, from consistent bedtimes to simple approaches such as charging phones outside bedrooms overnight. Ultimately, to improve attendance we must look beyond school walls and consider the broader conditions that support young people to engage with learning. For many pupils, something as fundamental as a good night’s sleep can make the difference between a difficult start to the day and arriving at school ready to participate. Recognising that connection is an important step in building the sustainable improvements in attendance that schools are working so hard to achieve.