NFIS Family Advice Oct 2020 (pdf)
DownloadFamilies like yours are NOT alone in having a child experiencing school attendance problems and barriers. Many parents or carers who contact us says they felt as if they were the only ones, until they made contact with other parents.
Believe your child’s distress is real, listen to what they say and trust your instincts as a parent or carer.
Mental & physical health related absence should be authorised as illness. Extended absence requires medical evidence, so see a GP and arrange to be referred to CAMHS.
Most schools should offer mental health support, counselling, and access to a School Nurse, they can also ask an Educational Psychologist to make an assessment.
These suggestions will help you to access the support your child needs, and help you to protect yourself from prosecution for non-attendance:
It is important to keep a brief diary of what happens day to day to build a picture of the problem and the steps that have been taken. Keep a file of notes you take at meetings, during phone calls etc. and copies of ALL emails and letters. Check that minutes of meetings are accurate. It is often useful to take someone with you so that they can take notes while you listen and you have someone to discuss the meeting with afterwards. (To help with this correspond as much as possible by email and consider using an automatic call recorder on your phone).
This blog post explains the value of keeping records and how to go about it:
The reason you give for absence is significant, there are subtle differences but they are important if you end up in court:
ABSENCE DUE TO ILLNESS
Check to see how non-attendance is being coded in the register- check for accuracy and challenge anything you are not happy with.
If you’re concerned about school records you can make a full Subject Access Request (SAR) for a copy of all records held. Check through them carefully for accuracy and for gaps in the paperwork, and ask for them to be corrected.
You will need this to protect yourself from prosecution
Families are often pressured to obtain medical evidence to have absence authorised or to allow for the provision of alternative education. This is usually based upon local policy, NOT statutory guidance.
Other parents will have experienced the same situations as you and can offer advice or support. This is especially relevant if:
Focus on policies for ATTENDANCE, SEND, & MAKING COMPLAINTS (as applicable).
Check they are being followed correctly and if they are not, ask why?
The school should respond to attendance problems by making assessments and helping to investigate what the underlying triggers or unmet needs are so that they can be addressed. This might involve the SENDCo, and referrals to an Educational Psychologist, CAMHS, and possibly other services such as Occupational Therapy and Speech and Language Therapy.
Ask for meetings and contact people who might be willing to help (including your GP, CAMHS helpline, School Nurse, Local MP, LA attendance team).
Start with the following websites (see links below):
Then also look at others you think may be helpful
Act quickly - hopefully you will have been keeping records and trying to get medical evidence - (don't leave it this late to get medical evidence and referrals) - this is what protects you, as prosecuting parents of a child with a diagnosis of mental health problems: (a) generally doesn't happen and (b) breaches the Equality Act (2010). Sadly, people often get to the point of being in court the following week, don't have representation and then don't point out to judge that the child is absent because of mental illness. So, it is VERY important to see your GP and get a CAMHS referral in place ASAP.
If you wish to join us, you need to click on the 'Join this group' button in the link below and answer our THREE QUESTIONS for new members
School refusal, and related conditions and difficulties, can be very stressful for parents, and can affect the whole family. Remember to seek medical advice & support for your own health.
Please remember that you are not alone. We hope you can find support through Not Fine In School and other online support groups, and you may find local support groups too.
IAS Services have a duty to provide information, advice and support to disabled children and young people, and those with SEN, and their parents. They are statutory services which means there has to be one in every local authority.
IPSEA offers free and independent legally based information, advice and support to help get the right education for children and young people with all kinds of special educational needs and disabilities.
SOS!SEN is a national charity aiming to empower parents and carers of children with SEN to tackle successfully themselves the difficulties they face when battling for their children’s rights
Support for parents making EHCP assessment applications and EHCP maintenance
CONTACT support families with the best possible guidance and information about disability. They offer local area contacts and a helpline for advice.
The UK's largest provider of specialist autism services.
Parenting Mental Health empowers, educates, and supports tens of thousands of parents to successfully navigate each stage of their child’s mental illness, and to become stronger and more resilient families.
Child Law Advice is operated by Coram Children’s Legal Centre. They provide specialist advice and information on child, family and education law to parents, carers and young people in England.
Whatever you need to know about coping with stress, anxiety or depression, or just generally improving your emotional wellbeing, the NHS Choices Moodzone is here to help. It offers practical, useful information, interactive tools, and videos to support you on your way to feeling better.
Our advocacy service is a free and confidential service available to anyone who wants support to make a complaint to the NHS.
From a modest start made by a small group of parents in 1977, Education Otherwise (EO) has grown to become a well respected and vibrant registered charity, supporting and advising home educating families in England and Wales.
HE UK is the oldest, most established continuously running website on home education in the UK.
The website carries information on many aspects of home education, and related issues, including an excellent FAQ as an introduction to the subject for those first considering home educating their child.
The Centre for Personalised Education – Personalised Education Now seeks to promote educational ‘alternatives for everybody, all of the time’ through a diverse, funded Personalised Educational Landscape. This would meet the learning needs, lifestyles and life choices made by individuals, families and communities. State funding would be secured through vouchers or personal learning accounts.
Family Action transforms lives by providing practical, emotional and financial support to those who are experiencing poverty, disadvantage and social isolation across the country.
Careers advice for parents and young people
Gingerbread are the leading national charity working with single parent families.
What to expect if you ask for assistance from your local authority social services department or if another professional asks a social worker to visit because they have concerns about the welfare of a member of your family.
Family Rights Group was established in 1974, by a group of lawyers, social workers and academics who were concerned about how families were treated when social services were involved with their children.
FRG work with parents whose children are in need, at risk or are in the care system and with members of the wider family who are raising children unable to remain at home.
Sibs exists to support people who grow up with or have grown up with a disabled brother or sister. It is the only UK charity representing the needs of over half a million young siblings and over one and a half million adult siblings.
Grandparents Plus is the only national charity (England and Wales) dedicated to supporting kinship carers - grandparents and other relatives raising children who aren't able to live with their parents.
SingleParents.org.uk brings together essential information, expert advice, interactive learning, multi-media content, links to other support organisations and news for anyone who is parenting alone.
Happy Steps has been designed to gather together a whole range of services to help families and individuals strengthen their stepfamilies and to provide training and tools for organisations and family professionals.
We believe that family life should be full of fun and adventure. That's especially important when your child has a disability or life-threatening illness. Sky Badger is where you'll find help for physical disabilities, special educational needs, mental health problems as well as finding support for your whole family.
Family Fund is the UK’s largest charity providing grants for families raising disabled or seriously ill children and young people.
Our mission is to provide items and services to all low-income families in the UK raising disabled or seriously ill children, that they could not otherwise afford or access, and that help improve their quality of life, realise their rights, and remove some of the barriers they face.
In 2016, three parents who had all lost their teenage sons to suicide, vowed to do all they could to prevent other families suffering similar tragedies. And so The OLLIE Foundation was born.
We support parents who are looking to make the best decisions for their family during separation and divorce.
We support parents who are looking to make the best decisions for their family during separation and divorce.
PEGS has been set up to support both parents and professionals deal with the issues associated with child to parent abuse. Our awareness and training sessions help people to learn new tools and techniques when dealing with abusive children, what policies are out there to assist families, and what other support networks and frameworks exist in the UK.
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FOR SEPARATION ANXIETY: One really discrete thing that a parent has done this year is to sew a small piece of shared fabric into the jumper. The child knows that this piece of something from home is always with them and that mummy has a piece attached inside her handbag.
FOR SEPARATION ANXIETY: A four-year-old girl has created a ‘hug button’ to help her feel close to her mum when she’s at school. Violet Orrick and her mum Leanne, draw love hearts on each other’s hands which they press to send each other imagined hugs when they’re apart.
You could copy this idea, using a pen to draw small hearts on your arms/hand or elsewhere. You can also look out for temporary tatoos that can be used such as this on Etsy.
School Attendance Guidance 2020/21 (pdf)
DownloadParents Guide to Registration Codes (pdf)
DownloadEducation OutOfSchool for Health Needs Guidance 2013 (pdf)
DownloadSupporting Pupils at School with Medical Conditions (pdf)
DownloadSchool Attendance Parental Responsibility Measures Statutory Guidance (pdf)
DownloadSEND Code of Practice 2015 (pdf)
DownloadSpecial Educational Needs and Disabilites Guide for Parents and Carers (pdf)
DownloadEquality Act and School (pdf)
DownloadENGLAND Disability Discrimination Technical Guidance Schools (doc)
DownloadAttendance Issues Medical Needs Factsheet (pdf)
DownloadAlternative Provision Statutory Guidance (pdf)
DownloadUse of Reasonable Force Advice 2015 (pdf)
Download