Help please! Really need some advice about dd’s long term absence from school and the schools lack of support

[HamIsMyCake]

I’m desperate for some advice and wondered if anyone could help.

My daughter is in year 8 and has been absent from school for over a month because she is struggling with her mental health.

During this time there has been almost no contact from school. On five separate occasions I have requested a phone call from a relevant member of staff so we can have a discussion about the best way forward and to help get dd back to school.

The office staff have been very helpful and have passed on messages. However, on 3 occasions I have had no response and the two responses I have had were via two very short emails and only mentioned enrolling dd onto an online learning platform (which incidentally hasn’t been done).

I do not think asking for a phone call is an unreasonable request and I don’t understand why this hasn’t happened. I am very disappointed and feel that my daughter has essentially been abandoned by school at a time when she should be receiving additional support. It very much appears that school cares very little about helping her.

What is the school legally required to do when a child is off for such a long time. Surely they have to at least attempt to put things in place to help her get back to school?

It is quite unusual for a school to not be breathing down your neck and fretting about their absence figures.

I would email once more, copying in everybody (form tutor, head of year, head of key stage, senco, head teacher) asking for contact within whatever the school says their response time is. It’s usually stated on their website somewhere.

Ask for specific measures to help your daughter back into school as well as referral to outside agencies like a family support worker and CAMHS.
Also contact your GP.

Good luck, mental health support is somewhere between woefully inadequate to non-existant, unfortunately.

The school should have notified the LA that your daughter was going to miss more than 15 day education due to her health care needs.

The LA then has a duty to put in place a suitable full time education - this could be an online school and tutors.

Speak to the LA snd school about why this hasnt happened.

You should also ask to see the senco to talk about a phased return and support stategies the school can put in place to help her gradually go back to school.

And pester gp/cahms for mental health support.

Hi
Could you arrange a face to face meeting with her form teacher or Head Of Year ?
Have you spoken to any other professionals about your daughters issues- if not I would recommend you do.
Has she had no education in all this time ?

There are support groups on Facebook that will.give you a lot of help. Search "school refusal". She absolutely should be getting a lot of help.

The school should be engaging with you at a minimum - do they have an attendance officer? I am surprised with that amount of absence you haven’t heard from anyone. Do they have SEn/ELSA or pastoral support? If so ask to speak to them.
As a school if a child is missing from education for 10 days without contact from the parent they have to report it to the LA. I think they then become responsible.
Another resort is to either contact the head or write to the governors (there should be governors overseeing attendance and SEN) you’ll soon see someone call you then.

Have you considered turning up at the school and waiting until someone sees you?

Thank you all so much.

we are waiting for a CAMHS appointment, they accepted her referral but the waiting list is four months!

School have been appalling. Surely it’s a safeguarding concern when a child has been off for so long. Dd wants to go back but is scared and at the moment the main barrier is school themselves. I will send an email but they don’t reply to them. If you want to talk to them about anything you have to fill in an online form (which they then ignore).

it’s good to know that they should have informed the LA. It’s all useful information that I will include in the email and if I still get no reply I will contact the LA myself.

Just turning up is definitely on my list of things to do next.

I am no expert but at the very least the school should be having face to face contact with the child every 10 days- this can be via zoom. If not Ofsted would be viewing it as inadequate safeguarding…. I would report it to them.

School should be following a process something like this flow chart attached.

Also see the document on this link here for advice https://search3.openobjects.com/mediamanager/manchester/fsd/files/anxietybaseddschoolavoidanceemanchesterschoolssguidancedocumenttsept20211_2.pdf

I’m definitely going to go to Ofsted if it continues.

That flowchart is really helpful! Thank you so much.

You can also try posting on SEN board (and maybe Child mental Health too).