Any School Attendance Policy experts about?

[fernfriend]

Hi everyone,
I am wondering if anyone can advise me please? This is a long one - I've tried to include lots of relevant information, so that you have a full picture of what I'm struggling with...

My DD is autistic, and lives with a number of co occuring conditions, including OCD and anxiety. When she is experiencing heightened anxiety, it effects her sleeping, eating and she engages in self injurious behaviours. This has an impact on her ability to attend school. Her GP has said they can't help, as they say my DD needs to be seen by a specialist, and she has just finished 6 months of sessions with CAMHS. The mental health professional working with my DD was not an autism specialist.

DD is in mainstream secondary school and her attendance dipped below 90% which puts her in the 'persistently absent' bracket. This has meant that we have received the automated letters from the school, which threaten fines, and poor long term outcomes as a result of her non attendance. I've asked the school to authorise the absences, since they are related to her autism (which is a lifelong condition), and her co-occuring mental health conditions. But the school says they cannot do so without medical evidence from either CAMHS or her GP. They do not accept any other means (so advice from my DD's previous therapist, who was an autism specialist, was not accepted). I managed to get a letter from her GP last year, but the school has said that the wording is not specific enough to authorise absences, and the letter is only valid for 6 months. Last year, it took 245 for my DD to be assessed at CAMHS, and a further 2 months for her therapy sessions to begin. The MH professional working with my DD said that school should be authorising absences.

I have read the non statutory by the DfE guidance on attendance, and it says:

‘Schools should advise parents to notify them on the first day the child is unable to attend due to illness. Schools must record absences as authorised where pupils cannot attend due to illness (both physical and mental health related).’

It goes on to say:

‘In the majority of cases a parent’s notification that their child is ill can be accepted without question or concern. Schools should not routinely request that parents provide medical evidence to support illness. Schools are advised not to request medical evidence unnecessarily as it places additional pressure on health professionals, their staff and their appointments system particularly if the illness is one that does not require treatment by a health professional. Only where the school has a genuine and reasonable doubt about the authenticity of the illness should medical evidence be requested to support the absence.’ (Working Together to Improve School Attendance, DfE, 2022)

I have met with the HT to discuss the Attendance Policy, as I believe that it unfairly discriminates against neurodivergent students, many of whom who live with co occuring mental health conditions. It is also near impossible to obtain 'medical evidence' to support our DD's absences. The HT has said that once absences dip below 90%, they need medical evidence to authorise the absences, as this is what the statutory guidance says. I can't find this statutory guidance, and he has not been able to provide me with it, and anyway, this is contrary to what the Children and Families Minister told me - I contacted her last year to highlight the huge challenge in accessing mental health services for young people in the UK, and I mentioned that we were being threatened with fines for out DD's poor attendance, to which she said that school should be authorising these absences in this instance.

I am so confused. And frustrated. I can't believe how difficult it is to find a professional that can provide me with the 'appropriately worded' evidence I need to get the school to authorise her absences. And I am getting conflicting advice as to whether I should need this evidence anyway! I feel like we're in a bit of a stalemate.

I should say that I have a positive relationship with DDs school and the HT. Our meeting was positive on many levels, just frustrating that we ended up agreeing to disagree. The HT has changed the attendance procedure as a result of our meeting, to reflect the excessive waiting times for CAMHS assessment. But all this means is that they only accept medical evidence from a GP.

Please can someone help? Can anyone clarify what the attendance rules actually are?

Thanks in advance - and well done if you made it through my beast of a post!

what exactly is an "autism related absence"?

Clearly absences related to difficulties arising from their autism diagnosis.

Any school with a blanket ban on authorising absences due to autism leave themselves open to a disability discrimination case.

An example might be after a meltdown there is a period of recovery. During this time period hormone levels are raised and the person is in fight/flight/freeze mode so may have another meltdown very easily as the body is prepped for it, but also will not be able to take on new information so school is a bit pointless.. Schools are notorious for thinking 10 minutes of time in a quiet room is enough to recover. But it actually can take 24 hours and sometimes OT exercises are needed too. If you look at diagrams of a meltdown, they look like an iceberg with a rumble phase, the meltdown, the recovery. The energy used in an extreme meltdown is akin to running a marathon apparently. So its entirely reasonable to need to sleep the next day. Let everything settle and then go back in. Or you csn get stuck in an cycle of fight/flight/meltdown and have burnout. Ive done a course run by the OT, a course run by Yvonne Newbold and a course run by Barnardos who all stressed the importance of recovery time.

I despair at the thought that people like you work in education @Nimbostratus100

@FloatingBean - I've had time to read through the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations (2006) now, and you are absolutely right. The legislation clearly states that:
'In the case of a pupil who is not a boarder, his absence shall be treated as authorised for the purposes of this regulation if—

(a)he has been granted leave of absence in accordance with regulation 7; or

(b)he is unable to attend—

(i)by reason of sickness or unavoidable cause;'

Thank you for highlighting this.

Not true. Look at the guidance quoted and linked.

If you work in a school, how could you possibly not know?

@fernfriend
I think I'd ask for a meeting with the SEN governor
If that fails local education authority
If a church school the diocesans education officer

But as a side not my nephew (who has autism) was in mainstream and my brother and SIL had a nightmare and eventually he went to a special school which far better met his needs and they were geared up better to deal with children with additional needs. He was 13 when they moved him the primary years were ok secondary a total nightmare they look back now and wonder why they didn't do it sooner!

I despair of anyone having the impression that being autistic is a reason to miss school

Great @Nimbostratus100!

Could you come and tell my autistic son that when he's sobbing and stimming and rocking in a corner please? Because I'm clearly failing as a parent in persuading him to go in.

What are your tips to deal with school refusal in an autistic child? I'd honestly love to hear what you find is successful

Anyone who doesn’t think difficulties arising from autism can sometimes result in school absences hasn’t the faintest idea.

We have children in hospital for long periods and others who can not be in school through no fault of their own. The process is to be able to answer questions about why XYZ can not be in school and we all know there are times it is impossible. We send out absent letters to all to ensure no one falls between any gaps as a safeguarding issue but you then have discussions with parents that they should not worry, we know the issues, that the attendance governor will be monitoring and asking questions to feed back to the board. The point is to evidence you have done all you can and often there is nothing you can do to improve attendance for children who may have long-term medical needs.
They are included in the overall data but as long as you have a case study or now the reasons there is no need to pursue any further action other than sending letters to parents. We also have discussions with the EWO and LA so everyone is aware there is no need for any legal action because there is an accepted clear reason. Special school attendance targets are presently 91%
because of health issues. We still send letters and ask parents to update us and ensure homework, family support etc is still relevant and provided to the right setting as children move from one hospital to another. This is more about safeguarding and checking if we can do anything. We don't send for fines when there is a genuine need even when it has been below 20%.