In a series of special reports, our Social Affairs Correspondent, Christine Alsford, spent time at a Redbridge Community School in Southampton.
The school has dramatically improved its truancy rates, reduced permanent exclusions and turned lives around.
A Hampshire school is taking drastic measures to encourage students not to play truant.
The headteacher and his assistant drive around in a mini bus, confronting teenagers who should be in class - and trying to persuade them to accept the offer of a lift to school.
Attendance has long been right at the top of the government's education agenda.
Statistics point to the strong link between being in lessons and achieving well. Pupils with the lowest absence rates are nearly five times more likely to get at least five good grades including English and Maths at GCSE.
Our social affairs correspondent Christine Alsford was given exclusive access to a school's attendance bus and its groundbreaking work in Southampton.
Here is the first of her three special reports about a school working hard to ensure Every Day Counts:
Monday's weather forecast
Philippa has the outlook for the week ahead
A vigil has been held to remember the three victims of the terror attack in Reading.