She should be provided with an alternative education

[mychilddeservesaneducation]

(NC in case this is outing with links to previous posts).

DD is about to start year 10. Due to trauma relating to bullying, she's been refusing school for almost a year (she has panic attacks and can't cope with being in lessons / corridors / assembly halls etc). When this first started, we asked the school to consider allowing her to work in a small room or something but they refused. It's normal timetable or punishment for 'truancy' (even if she's in school they count it as 'internal truancy' if she doesn't turn up to a lesson, which happened frequently as she was hiding in the toilets crying as she was too scared to go in).

She's basically had no education since almost this time last year, except a few workbooks at home that we've bought. School won't set work if she's not in school, they won't offer small group teaching if she is in school and for the last term, we stopped sending her in as the stress and punishments were making her severe anxiety worse. Their line is she needs to be in school and in lessons and if she's not, it's an unauthorised absence. We've been threatened with court for her poor attendance.

We've had limited support from an attendance key-worker and have tried a phased return to school a few times but failed as she just panics. The GP hasn't been able to help much and CAHMS refused a referral request. We've paid for some private counselling but can't afford to continue.

After so long, should the school (or council?) not be offering an alternative education for her like online tutoring or pupil referral unit (not sure if this is appropriate to her needs)? The school will just not help at all. We cannot afford online schooling and DH and I have to work full time to pay the bills, so home Ed would be difficult too. I'm so stuck as to where to turn and any advice will be much appreciated.

Also ask for another referral to CAMHS and consider applying for an EHCP. That will probably take time but may ultimately get your daughter better support in school and possibly referral to a more suitable school.

I agree with ClockwiseHoneysuckle but I think the GP is letting them down by writing it off as mere 'anxiety'. This poor girl has way, way more than mere anxiety. GP needs to diagnose her with Major Depressive Disorder and Suicide Ideation. Anything else you/GP can think of and come up with. And that she is at severe suicide risk and is on Suicide Watch. Just saying she has 'anxiety' aint going to get them shit, sadly. It needs to be really serious, hard hitting and direct to be taken seriously. No council is going to give a child extra help for 'anxiety'. It just won't happen.

Just thinking more about this, (and I feel for this as I too was very severely teased and bullied at my high school and rural town itself where I grew up, and I have Major Depression, so your daughter's plight strikes a nerve with me), can you contact your local newspaper about this? They're always after scoops and new stories, stuff for their paper. Or go onto your local current affairs tv programme (if you guys have them in the UK) and seek help via getting your story out through the media? It's a public interest story for the public to know that a local school is not providing Duty of Care for a student, and allowing bullying to flourish while punishing the victim and depriving the victim of an education.
This is about Duty of Care, and a taxpayer-funded state school failing in it's Duty of Care to it's students.

please don’t go down the autism route, there appears to be no reason for this and I say this as a clinical specialist in autism. Your daughter has school based anxiety from school bullying from what you have said. This is not a CAMHS criteria but one that education should be supporting you with.
I do not live in England so can’t help much with local information however in Scotland all school nurses have been trained in anxiety management and they are expected to provide this support.
Inhave to say that you and your DH are going to have to work round supporting her which will probably mean a reduction in both your hours/sick leave/ special leave depends what your employer would provide.
Id also suggest that you stop paying for a counsellor and use a CBT/EMDR therapist with qualifications in working with children, anyone can be a counsellor as long as you have the mo eh to buy the training.
Unfortunately if school do not help as they should I’d be moving my child in an instant and work around the disruption that this will cause. You have no other options

I’m curious as to how you have diagnosed major depressive disorder?
I hope to god your a psychiatrist providing this and have actually assessed this child otherwise your advice is not only wrong but dangerous as well.Suicide watch, what on earth do you mean, do you mean the child is on 1/1 24 observations in a hospital because that’s actually what that means.
Got to love the mumsnet experts

Wow. You really have no idea. Read OPs posts. It's clear there is more than anxiety going on with this poor girl. And, as OP herself has said, two other children in the same situation at the school have committed suicide.

You don't think any of this warrants the OP pushing harder in that direction, to get whatever help she can? Just going with 'anxiety' is doing nothing at all whatsoever ever at the moment, is it? What solutions do you have, then? Lets hear them!

OP says: *mychilddeservesaneducation · Yesterday 17:01
Yes. You've written exactly how I feel. Sadly at least two children from the same school have ended their lives in the past year.

Did you miss this from the OP? Should OP wait for a third - her daughter?

Tbh, if she's at risk of suicide then she shouldn't be going anywhere near that school and bullies. She needs to change school.

OP. I work in this area.

You need to send the Local Authority a letter to request they arrange alternative. IPSEA have a template. It is the LA who are responsible but the school who normally do the referral.

The alternative education needs to be 'suitable' and full time ,unless it's not in her interests to be full time.

You may qualify for transport to the alternative education if it's done onsite somewhere.

If you PM which LA you live in I will send you a link to the Local Offer website where they explain what alternative provision is in your area. Every LA has to have a Local Offer website with all information about children and young people with SEND.

I also suggest that you speak to your local SENDIASS.

And keep pushing for a referral to CAMHs and get your MP involved.

It is illegal for the LA to not provide your daughter with an education.

And use the IPSEA template letter to apply for an EHCP needs assessment to get an EHCP. The LA will almost certainly turn you down ,but appeal.

An EHCP may provide her with a smaller school that would suit her better, or at least more time in education if that's what's needed.

I second IPSEA for free templates of legally watertight letters to LA.
My understanding from them is that the LA need to provide alternative after 15 days absence. Obviously I have never heard of this actually happening because of how local authorities’ budgets have been slashed by the Tories. This is blighting kids lives. It’s a national scandal. Kids missing years of education through no fault of their own, whether through teams or SEND needs or both.

Anxiety is a medical reason. Keep on that theme with the school. See your GP and ask them to write a short letter to school and LA to explain medically why child can’t attend. Like they would be asked to write a sick note for an adult. It’s important not to make it about DD ‘refusing school’ which sounds voluntary. She can’t help it. Hope things improve for you soon OP.

And we wonder why councils are going bankrupt.

There aren’t even SEN places for SEN children. OP’s child doesn’t have special needs. This sudden clamour for SEN places for children who have emotional upset is overburdening the system and deeply unfair on children who aren’t actually capable of learning the regular curriculum.

There are over 800,000 children currently missing school for non medical reasons. There is zero hope of providing them all with the level of service expected on here because there are so many of them now and there are no resources to do it. Threatening judicial review all over the place seems to have become the knee jerk reaction for almost everything.

I would suggest OP pursues the mental health route to get her daughter back to school. Can you afford private therapy? Can she change schools if you move house? Has she tried sertraline?

Please don't try drugs before you've tried a viable option like moving. Half an hour isn't that far when the stakes are this high

Gosh you must live in a well resourced borough. The bar for acceptance here is very high. If they thought the cause of anxiety was environmental (bullying) they'd expect that to be addressed rather than treating it as a mental health issue.

Well yes I agree. But it’s worth trying if everything else fails as frankly it works and can be life changing.

She has a diagnosis (from the GP) of anxiety. The school said this was insufficient for her to access any SEND type support.

This isn’t true and it goes against the SEN Code of Practice.

As others have said, submit a parental request for an EHCNA.

Also, there is a huge overlap between girls who present with EBSNA (emotionally based school non attendance) and autism. Would you consider having her assessed?

She’s anxious because she was bullied.

Be careful with SENDIASS. Some are good but many are not and repeat the LA’s unlawful policies.

My understanding from them is that the LA need to provide alternative after 15 days absence.

The 15 days (that can be cumulative) don’t need to have already been missed. The LA should provide provision as soon as it becomes clear 15 days will be missed and the provision should begin by the sixth day of absence.

OP’s child doesn’t have special needs

Anxiety to the level OP is talking about are SEMH needs and meet the legal definition of SEN.

@Theunhappiestchild could DD cope with more than 7 hours in any form (doesn’t have to be traditional academic education)? If so, the LA should be providing more. 7hrs is not full time and the LA knows this. Email the LA.

Yes…? It’s still worth putting an EHCNA in. Clear SEMH needs with the anxiety. Cognition and learning needs due to missed learning so there will now be knowledge gaps. As a couple of posters have mentioned, there may be needs in the area of communication and interaction if she is autistic. (Remember there is - also - a huge overlap between female teens diagnosed with anxiety and autism.) Finally, OP will be able to consider if there are any physical and sensory needs.

OP should certainly submit for an EHCNA; the more info that can be listed under each of the four areas the better.

Exact same situation here. It’s so awful. You have to know your rights. Check out the education act. Child has a right to an education that meets their needs. Then contact your local MP, cc’ing in local councillors (ask around locally and find out which councillors are active, pushy and useful). Get them on side to fight for an education for your child.

My MP was horrified that such a situation existed and was very helpful.

Good luck

The relevant Act now is the Children and Families Act, but it's probably better to look at all the information on the IPSEA and SOS SEN websites.

The legislation covering education alternative provision for CSA pupils unable to attend school is still section 19 of the Education Act 1996. As you will see if you look at IPSEA’s website and model letters.

Because (honestly I’m not exaggerating) every emotional distress on here is met with an instant assumption the person being discussed is autistic despite only 1 very tenuous symptom for which there is a good reason (in this case bullying). Saying there’s ’no harm’ in just having her assessed anyway isn’t true - she’ll be added to a list which has increased by 700% because of this sort of thinking, while simultaneously wondering ‘why the system is so broken and waiting lists so long’.