‘Disguised compliance’ and school attendance problem

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Has anyone had ‘disguised compliance’ thrown at them? It’s a kick in teeth as it’s genuine compliance but it’s an issue I can’t actually control so I’m pissed off it’s got to this point. We are now looking at home education.

Ds is suspected to have ASD and ADHD. Also has some medical conditions (asthma , allergies, severe eczema). We keep appts out of school hours if we can but the clinics are often weekday afternoons.

He’s always getting what we think is covid or RSV and his asthma flares up . He’s on all the vitamins and has had bloods to check for anything underlying but he just suffers and colds / viruses etc go straight to his chest.

Attendance has hovered around 65% for 2 years now. We’ve had meeting and meetings. I’ve had to get GP letters, consultant letters and proof of GP appts when off or prescriptions etc. been made to feel like a criminal.
Was told to sign an agreement to improve the attendance which I said I can’t as I can’t guarantee that ? This is when the school have said everyone I’m doing so far is ‘disguised compliance ‘ and that i submit evidence and say the right things but nothing actually changes - how can I change things ?? They have now said they are having a meeting and ‘may need to get other professionals involved ‘

Im just going to home educate I think as I can’t seem to do a thing right !

He’s year 7 I should have added

Could you say 'Good, I'm glad you can use your leverage to get other professionals involved. First some extra medical support to get to the bottom of all his illnesses, and then to speed through his ASD & ADHD assessments. Following that some help applying for an EHCP for him to see whether catch up tuition or other educational support is needed.'

You shouldn't be forced into home educating if you don't want to.

The SEN board is very helpful.

The school seem to be very much saying that if he had 97+ attendance he wouldn’t be having as many issues almost like they think they possible asd and adhd would just disappear ?
I am tempted to go private but I doubt they’d accept a private diagnosis?
Foe everything physical the gp and consultants are supportive and we’ve had additional tests and it was all ok so I think he’s just in general not a robust child, there’s such an emphasis on sport at the school too which isn’t helping

Sounds like he is likely recognised as disabled under the equality act even without an asd diagnosis due to the severity of his other health issues. Which potentially makes this discrimination and failure to make reasonable adjustments

Where are you in the assessment process for ASD/ADHD? Can school have Ed Psych push this along? In all honesty if his attendance is so low there should already be other professional involvement not least because he has a right to educational support and coordinated health support through community paediatrics.

Given suspected neurodivergence what support has the school put in place to help his learning? A multi-agency meeting may be no bad thing to bring a range of professional support to bear.

Sounds like they don't actually know what disguised compliance is.

The LA should be involved at this stage: are they? They may be able to take a good look at the situation and lean on the school to stop hassling you over attendance, as well as to provide better support to your son.

If a child has missed, or is expected to miss, a total of 15 days in the year (not necessarily consecutive) due to illness, the school is required to tell the LA. The LA must then have a named member of staff whose responsibility it is to ensure your child's education doesn't suffer unduly as a result of his low attendance. You should have been given this person's name and contact details.

All we’ve had is threats of fines ? Haven’t actually heard from anyone except the school

I would write to the school thanking them for their concern about your child's education in view of his illness. Then quote from this
https://www.gov.uk/illness-child-education

Ask them on what date they informed the LA about your child's ongoing health issues and mention that you have not yet been given the contact details of the LA staff member who is responsible. Ask them to provide this information to you ASAP because you agree that your child's low attendance may be affecting his education and you are keen to see the school and LA take action on this.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/education-for-children-with-health-needs-who-cannot-attend-school

Two years of 65% attendance is down to more than a few medical appointments. That is significantly low attendance. The school is responsible for your child’s educational progress so I am not surprised they are very concerned.

See photo- nearly 13.5 weeks of education lost each year.

I wouldn't discourage you from home education if you feel that is the right way forward. It is more flexible and can take account of periods of illness without risk that the child will fall behind. You can reduce the risk of illness by managing the environments in which he spends time. I know home ed families whose children are vulnerable to common illnesses, who socialise mainly outdoors or with just a few children at a time rather than spending hours every weekday in a crowded classroom alongside ill children whose parents are under pressure from school or their own employers to send them to school regardless. So your son could have fewer illnesses that way.

You also wouldn't have to fight with anyone to adapt your son's education to fit his needs with respect to the possible ASD/ADHD. You can choose the best approach for him and if it isn't working, keep tinkering with it until it is. One of my children has SEN and has always been home educated, which has been brilliant for her. Sometimes I think educating her myself has been far easier than trying to persuade the school or the LA to give her what I am sure she needs (and maybe they couldn't deliver that, even if they were prepared to do their best).

All we’ve had is threats of fines ? Haven’t actually heard from anyone except the school

What have you been doing to support your child’s education, are they in the process for assessment, have you sought an ECHP, discussed with the school how to fill the gaps in learning? At 65% I’d expect significant multi-agency involvement, as a parent I’d be fighting for my child’s right to health, care and education support. The school aren’t threatening you with other professionals, they should be involved.

Beyond providing appointment letters etc to support his absence, how have you engaged with school to have his needs met?

That level of absence is extremely concerning and I'm not surprised they've mentioned disguised compliance. Unless your child is frequently being admitted to hospital eczema, asthma and allergies wouldn't explain that level of absence.

Who suspects ADHD and autism? Is he in medication? Again if the impact is such he is missing so much school I would expect it to be far more than "suspected"

If you want to home educate, do so, but I would advise you to ask yourself if he honestly was too ill to attend EVERY time he was off.

Medical evidence of appointments Hospital Admissions and clinic letters are "good" evidence, but prescriptions do not mean anything!

(Spoken as the parent of a very anxious quiet child who really struggled with translation to secondary)

It's not just appointments though, he's off 2 days of every single week. That is a lot. And if it was pm after reg they wouldn't count as absent as they only use the am and pm reg. So if it was about appointments you could reg him then collect 20 mins later and back by lunch. Even 95% is 1 day off every 4 weeks which is quite a lot. Do most people have 1 sick day a month?
They should refer you to get to the bottom of it.

That's not hard if you have ongoing health problems. Until I had my tonsils out at 12 or 13, I was constantly ill with tonsillitis and missed a lot of school.

(Unfortunately I promptly caught glandular fever and then had ME so continued to miss a lot of school)

i agree that 2 days off a week is at the level where you need to be changing your illness threshold. If he’s at home sick, what does he do? Isn’t it better to send him in to school for them to send him home if he’s really poorly?

We have decided to home educate and put the de reg letter in yesterday

We spoke to the HT before taking the letter she said she understood our reasons and wishes ds the best

Sounds like a sensible decision, and one which you can always change later if you feel his needs now align better with school attendance, or if home ed doesn't suit.

I suggest finding your local home ed group for support and maybe activities your son might enjoy. They are usually on Facebook - in the FB search bar, type "home education" followed by your town or county or nearest big town.

Thankyou. We are going to have a couple of weeks and the summer holidays just to let ds decompress and recover and hopefully work out some kind of learning schedule for September as he’s exhausted and we need to figure out what style of education he needs etc

Exactly, 3.5 days out of every fortnight is due to medical appointments?

It was mostly illness or related to possible ASD/ADHD and just total shutdowns . I feel much better now we can relax and that the pressure on us all will be gone and we can just focus on ds mental health for a bit, then get something in place for September

My son has been out of education since 2018. His attendance was low but authorised absences due to his medical issues and difficulties due to diagnosed asd adhd and spd. He also has severe asthama and allergies as well as issues with his jaw we are waiting surgery for. The burnout and the amount of illnesses he caught in school just exacerbated everything. During lockdown we saw how much better he learned when not in a large busy noisy school and have seen him grow and develop since then at home . You won't regret your decision to home ed. Find the nearest home ed community to you and they will have good things on offer for you all. Socialising is often the reason people say you should goto school we found he does more out of school on his terms ans has found a tribe he failed to in school. No rose tinted glasses we have days harder than other but they do in school too. I wish you and your son the best. My son will be going to year 8 this September.