She should be provided with an alternative education

Your school is talking nonsense.

I am a parent of an EBSA young person .. now in college.

Your child can access SEND support in school without having a referral to CAMHS or an EHCP. You aren’t asking the school to spend money, you are asking them for a plan.

They need to provide you, with a plan, to get your child the education they are ENTITLED to. It’s not your job to battle your child to get them into school, it’s the job of the school & the LA. If thier plan isn’t working, they need to come up with a new one.

It’s pointy elbow time ..

Point out to the school & the LA that they are failing in the legal requirement to provide an education. If you can afford a solicitor, get a letter drawn up.

Put a complaint in to the mental health trust, and keep on complaining, until you get on the list. The Sertraline that my daughter was prescribed, has been a game changer

You are not alone, there are thousands of us.

If what I'm going to suggest has already taken place, apologies. Your local authority will have a service that provides impartial advice to parents of children with SEND, you may have to do a bit of googling to find it, each service has a different name in each authority. They can give advice. You may find them under your LA Family Hub page or Local offer page. Contact the school and ask for an appointment with the SENCO and talk to them about beginning the EHCP process. If they are reluctant don't forget that you can, as parents apply for an EHCP yourself. The form will be on the LA website. There are different organisations that can help. Have a look at IPSEA. Ask for a referral into CAMHS. Ask school for an education psychology referral. Or ask your GP to do it.

This is for the local authority. Use IPSEAs template letter (on their website) to tell the LA to make alternative educational provision (not ask, tell). It is their statutory duty. The school sounds absolutely useless. I’d also be contacting Ofsted to raise a whole school concern given what you have said about other pupils dying by suicide.

Have you considered on-line schooling with providers such as Kings InterHigh or Minerva? Big homeschool community where I am, and we joined for a year or so 10 years ago. Child actors, sports scholarship kids and ND kids like mine used Kings InterHigh and we’ve toyed with using it (actually wish we did for my DS GCSEs given how much he was let down by his school). Their GCSE and A Level provision is excellent. Lessons are live, but can be picked up on recording later in the week etc.

Don't go down.the Elective Home Education route unless it is something you really want to do. Speak to the LA about their EOTAS (Educated otber than at school) provision.

Have you approached the governors about the bullying?

I think the issue is that the child isn't actually getting to class but hiding e.g. in the loo? That's a huge Safeguarding issue.

If her panic attacks are that bad I would consider homeschooling. It’s awful that the school are being so unsupportive, it’s like they’re completely ignoring her mental health. I have panic attacks, they’re absolutely awful and I couldn’t imagine expecting a child to just sit there and suffer through them during class.

@Octavia64's advice is good but I just wanted to add that the Section 19 responsibility lies with the local authority and not the school.

I'm afraid OP that you're going to have to get much more assertive about this in order for the school to do anything.

Just out of interest, when did they last have Ofsted?

The school are lying to you.

You need to check out the not fine in school groups and also read my post earlier.

They are not fulfilling their legal duties and are hoping you will go away and leave them alone.

Please do not trust anything they say.

You are not legally required to have a diagnosis to access send support.

I suspect if you start looking like you understand your rights and how to fight for them they will back down.

Incidentally online gcse courses for the basics are not hideously expensive - and I'd suggest that if you do homeschool that she does only maths and English in the first year. They're about 400 each.

You may wish to read this guidance for schools on ebsa.

In particular, page 3 no diagnosis should s needed.

Page 5 absences must be recorded as authorised where it is not possible for a pupil to attend due to their mental health

Page 5 the school should have a plan to allow reasonable adjustments for pupils experiencing ebsa

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/63ee20a3d3bf7f62e5f76ba4/Summaryoffresponsibilitieswhereeamentallhealthissueeisaffectingg_attendance.pdf

I suspect the school have not been doing what they should (although note this is technically guidance).

This document is the guidance on what to do if a child cannot attend school due to health needs (this is your daughters situation as it is her mental health that means she cannot attend school).

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/657995f0254aaa000d050bff/Arrangingeducationnforchildrennwhocannottattendschoollbecauseoffhealthneeds.pdf

Please note that on page 7 it states that if a student has been out of school for 15 days either consecutively or in bits the school is obliged to organise alternative provision.

(This is sometimes known as section 19 provision).

I suggest that if you email the school attaching these guidance documents and explaining that your child has documented mental health problems and has been off for more than 15 days and that in line with section 19 you want alternative provision then you will get a response.

However if you both work and have no ability whatsoever to get your daughter physically anywhere else then the alternative provision could be tricky,

It doesn't have to be at her normal school and they are often little units here there and everywhere.

Managed moves are often done for behaviour reasons but I have taught kids who've been moved away from bullies by this method.

www.southwark.gov.uk/childcare-and-parenting/children-s-social-care/family-early-help-feh/education-inclusion-handbook/southwark-managed-move-protocol-best-practice#:~:text=What%20is%20a%20managed%20move,period%20of%20six%20school%20weeks.

To be honest in this situation id probably be thinking about moving house? I mean this isn't a small thing is it. Your child hasn't really been in school for a year. If the issue was caused by bullying then a new school could be the solution and your daughter is at a pretty critical point in her education? Is there no way at all you can make a school move happen?

Have you considered home educating? I mean, without online high schools.

Not that you should have to obviously.

Sounds like you need an EHCP to get funding, support and possibly more time for her to complete her education, and I think this would be easier if you had a diagnosis- possibly of trauma. You’ll have to go private for this. It might be one to work with an OT or psychologist, the anxiety means she has SEN, this needs addressing. There’s an organisation called send family instincts that might be a good starting place, also as others have said Not Fine In School. good luck, school sounds absolutely shocking.

There's a Facebook group called not fine in school or similar for parents of children with emotionally based school avoidance. Might be worth a look there for advice.

I’m so sorry, OP. Good luck xx https://notfineinschool.co.uk

So:

Re the GP, if she is having panic attacks then medication like propanalol or diazepam might help. Even if the GP isn't willing to prescribe (and she is young) then get the diagnosis on her record.

PRU is unlikely to be appropriate for someone with anxiety related mh issues. They tend to be full of boys with semh and major behavioural issues. She will not benefit from being exposed to violence. In addition most are full.

Some FE colleges run year 10 and 11 programmes that are aimed at previously home educated kids or kids that have missed out on education due to illness. They usually do English x2, maths, double science. It may be worth looking to see if there is a programme like that anywhere near you.

There are often other places students can go - the standard solution is usually to try another school as there are fewer triggers there for the student.

I'm not sure how this would work though I f you literally cannot get her anywhere but her current school and can't afford any kind of online school.

natspec.org.uk/colleges/search/ alternative education providers (some will need an EHCP to access); searchable by area.

If you're rural you may luck out with a country-based organisation that's suitable. You may be surprised what's available. Places like this don't advertise much.

With things that bad I would be moving school, and home and jobs if necessary. Things are unlikely to improve so you need to take action and protect your daughter

www.nahe.org.uk/support-advice/ some useful links on here - the Dfes "Arranging education for children with health needs" could be relevant if she's had any hospital admissions

Can she not move to another secondary school?