Home School Liaison Program

The Home School Liaison Program (HSLP) provides schools with the opportunity to apply for additional support and targeted strategies to foster improved attendance for students at risk of disengaging.

The HSLP will be decommissioned from Week 7, Term 3, 2026. 28 Home School Liaison Officers will provide support for cases progressing through the legal process for the remainder of 2026.

At the end of the year, all HSLP cases will be closed or transitioned to another support in Team Around a School.

Applying for attendance support

Applications for support through the HSLP will end in Week 6, Term 3.

Before applying for attendance support, schools are encouraged to consider strategies and interventions appropriate to the underlying cause and school context that may assist with non-attendance concerns.

The current application process for this support is the application for home school liaison program support.

All applications are considered by the attendance support program manager. If approved, an attendance support officer will work with the school on strategies to improve attendance.

Intensive Attendance Support (IAS)

Implementation of IAS began in Week 4, Term 3 2026. IAS is the department's attendance intervention program providing intensive casework support to students with complex barriers to attendance and are most at risk of educational neglect due to habitual absence.

This support works by:

• Building strong relationships with students and families to understand their challenges and strengths
• Connecting students and families to the help they need, including outside agencies such as NSW Health and Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ)
• Helping students access learning opportunities and career pathways

This support looks at the whole picture, considering how the student, school, family, and community all affect school attendance, and provides support for all these areas.

Students may be considered for IAS support if they have been appraised by the Child Wellbeing Unit (CWU) for Neglect Education (Habitual Absence) for the second time since the beginning of 2026*. Visit the department's webpage for more information on educational neglect.

Allocation to IAS is not automatic. The IAS team considers the student's attendance, risk factors, wellbeing needs, existing supports and overall complexity before determining the most appropriate support pathway.

Support pathways may include:

• Intensive Attendance Support
• Team Around a School support
• Alternative attendance and wellbeing interventions

*From 2027, support will be considered for students with two or more appraisals in a rolling 12-month period. This means that if a student was appraised for the first time in March 2026 and reappraised in February 2027, a notification to the IAS team will be triggered.

Who delivers this support?

The IAS team sits within each of the 28 Team Around a School teams across NSW. The Support and Interagency Coordinator supervise the IAS team, including the Attendance Liaison, Specialist Attendance Liaison and Aboriginal Attendance Officer roles.

These roles work in partnership to engage with students and families, as well as relevant agencies, to remove barriers and wrap the right supports around students.

How can I find out more?

If a student in your school is receiving support through IAS, the best contact is the IAS team member or local Support and Interagency Coordinator.

Your Director Educational Leadership can also help schools to connect with the right supports, including Team Around a School and Engaging in the Right Support.

You can also read more here:

• What is IAS and what does it mean for your school?
• Notification timeline for schools
• Information sheet for families
• Information sheet for students

Pre-recorded information sessions will be made available for school staff wanting to learn more about IAS intervention across Term 3, including:

• Overview of the IAS phase
• Identifying students for IAS
• What do partnerships in IAS look like?
• What is Check and Connect?
• What is educational neglect and habitual absence?
• How can I make an effective report to the Child Wellbeing Unit (CWU)?
• Education Destination Unknown processes