Severe anxiety prevents attending school, can I insist on an education?

[Mariand66]

My son is 15, should be in year 11, however due to severe anxiety is unable to attend school. He hasn't been to school at all since the end of year 9. He is being 'treated' by the youth mental health team
He's bright and wants an education but I am getting no help at all from the school. Does anyone know if and how I can get him an education( basic at least) and is it possible to receive a 1:1 tuition?
Tired frustrated

How stressful for you. Can you bypass school and go to council? Can you give us a vague idea of whereabouts you are? What have school suggested? Work sent home etc? Could he attend at all?

Are you in touch with the school's educational psychologist? The LEA should be providing some alternative provision. One-to-one might be a stretch everyday, but there should be something available.

And what do mental health team suggest?

I'm in Norwich, the school have not helped t all, he has missed year 10 completely. No work has been sent home at all. I have been to many school meetings, where a phased return has been suggested, but this was not possible. In July a meeting with his case worker and school took place, they would only offer a return to school if he joined the year below, they said we were too late for Internet / online teaching, even tho we had been requesting his for over a year.
I feel like they have given up on him, but are happy to take the funds the government is giving them for him attending their school!
I'm so angry! He wants an education, but he cannot handle groups of people, strangers or the unknown

A phased return sounds very unhelpful. It does sound like they are happy to take the money. Can you bypass school? Local education authority? Council? Have you seen educational welfare officer? What do mental health team suggest? Are there any units that could offer a refuge?
I really can't see how they can refuse to send work home. Put everything in writing and keep a copy. In your shoes I think I'd be tempted to contact MP or press.
Your poor family. Wish I wasn't on the other side of the country as I'm an English teacher!

As far as I know the school don't have a psychologist ?
No provisions have been made at all.
Mental health want him to integrate, but this is a slow process

School won't have an educational psychologist on site. County should be able to refer. Is it the Headteacher you deal with? Perhaps ask to speak to the SENCO? What justification do they give for sending no work home?

School have a duty to educate, whether that is provided by them or a specialist service provided by your educatin services. I work in CAMHS (youth mental health) and here is my advice -
Discuss with your CAMHS first and get them on your side re this. They should actively back you up with this to push the school to come up with a plan of how your son is going to receive an education.
Then request the school to instigate a CAF ( common assessment process) meeting at the school to discuss your sons educational needs and how they are going tube met. request that he head of year attends. request that his meeting is held ASAP. get CAMHS to attend and any other services who may be involved.
School in the meantime needs to be arranging for work to web sent home for your son to do.
The school then needs to address the issue longer term and work with CAMHS - is the plan going to be for gradual school reintegration supported by therapy from CAMHS, or is the plan for your son not to return to school now?
If your son is not likely to return in the short term then the local education authority is obliged to provide an alternative, which is likely to be home tuition.
Good luck.
Oh and unless there is a specific reason for the education psychologist to get involved ( ie assessment needed of your sons needs within the school environment) then I would suggest not necessarily going down that route as it could slow things up - but you're best to discuss that with your CAMHS.

Find the guidance on the DfE website about education for children and young people with medical needs. You have two new options ; apply for a statement of special educational needs ( using evidence from camhs , lack of ability to attend) and contacting the LA medical officer named in the guidance. Statements are hard work and take up to six months but might be a good option. Is this an academy?

My friend works for the council doing one to one tuition with kids who can't attend school. Maybe check with your council?

Sorry missed where you said the plan is for a phased return.

This may be hard but it's often the best plan for school based anxiety. just make sure it is being supported properly by school and with therapy (CBT is recommended for school anxiety) from CAMHS.
Sorry for rambling, and any typos.

Son is receiving CBT for anxiety, unfortunately it's not just school based,he wouldn't leave the house for nearly a year, has dropped all but 3 really close female friends, won't go anywhere he's not comfortable with. Goes to the local shop now with a friend, but supermarkets, trip to city, clothes shopping, day trips etc are all no goes.
Going back to school, especially going back a year, is daunting to anyone, and kids, well we all know how cruel they can be.....
Thanks for the advice, will make a list of people to contact and questions to ask!

Yes I can see how daunting going back a year would be - must add to his anxiety.
Anyway please pass on a message to your son from me - things can get better, most people learn to manage and reduce their anxiety, just keep working at it. There will be light at the end of the tunnel even if right now I doesn't feel like it.

Have you thought about Red Balloon Learner Centre in Norwich? Sorry, I don't know how to go about funding.

Your son has been badly let down by the authorities. If he can't attend school, he is entitled to an education from the LEA.

My son couldn't go to school because of severe anxiety and OCD. He was given online schooling through the LEA and offered a place at the local pupil referral unit. When this didn't work out, we chose to deregister and home educate him instead. He is on Prozac and is having CBT and now wants to go back to school again.

Selks gives really good advice about dealing with all the professionals to get your son the help he needs. It's disgraceful that he isn't getting the education he deserves.

However, if you are now too exhausted to fight anymore, another option worth considering is home education. Your son could study with an online school, such as Interhigh or Briteschool. Or he could study for his exams through a correspondence course such as Oxford Home Learning or Little Arthur. Also, a recent change in law means that home-educated children between 14-16 are entitled to attend their local college so that they can sit their GCSEs. There is more information on all these things on the Home Education board.

Good luck, whatever you decide. It's exhausting, I know.

Thanks ladies, I have now have more avenues to explore, working full time makes this harder to communicate with these 9-5 avenues of support!
But I will regather my strength and carry on!
I'll let you know how I get on x

Sorry, haven't read the whole thread, but in terms of catching him up so he can move on, there are some great online resources.

My favourite is www.my-gcsescience.com which is tailored specifically to the AQA science specification, but would be a good start for any other.

Sorry i can't help with the tuition question.

Good luck to you both.

Hi

I have just seen your message after Googling to find help for my daughter. I hope that things have improved for your son but I know from experience that it can take time. My daughter is also 15 and has been out of mainstream school since early in year 9 due to anxiety which is largely school/peer group based. She has been treated by the CIT (Community Intensive Therapy) Team at CAMHS since Feb 2012. They come out to see her rather than having hospital based visits. Has your son had this? She is bright and wants an education. We eventually accepted that she could not get back to school. She is currently being taught the core curriculum (maths, English and science) in a small local unit with three teachers and a varying number of pupils - currently 3 in year 11. CITT arranged this via the fair access panel of the LEA. Could your son cope with this and is it available? (Initially the teachers taught her for a couple of periods a week at home). Although it is taking much longer than we hoped for, my daughter is now attending mornings every day, catching the bus to get there and is enjoying the company of the other pupils. Generally she finds her peer group a challenge and has lost all contact with friends. That you son has kept some friends is very encouraging. My daughter is doing three other GCSEs - Art at a local Arts Centre (School paid for this)and two via ICS learning (we paid for these). She is now motivated and doing well. Is you son still on the role of his school? He should not have been removed. Do they have an attendance/well-being officer for year 11? Can you meet with them? I always imagined that a child missing from school would trigger some action from the LEA but under these circumstances the attitude seems to be 'oh CAMHS is involved, nothing we can do'. I hope that some of this is useful to you. I believe that this situation will become more common and the LEAs need to get their acts together to deal with it. If your son and our daughter were in a pupil referral unit for bad behaviour they would have better access to education and that cannot be right. Sorry for the rant but it makes me angry that parents have to work this out for themselves at a time of great personal stress. Also try Citizens Advice Bureau, www.youngminds.org.uk, SNAP. Look after yourself. I have taken up mindfulness meditation (try www.getsomeheadspace.com for a free trial) and yoga. The less stressed you are the better for your son. Not easy! Good luck and I hope your son gets the help he needs soon.

hi I also had a son with severe anxiety,he missed yr 7 then I home educated him then got him into a good secondary but he was too anxious then it took a couple of month but he was taught in the local library for a bout five hrs aweek.then I found a referral unit for vunerable kids there was only about five kids and some got one to one he stayed there until end of yr 11.then we moved from London his anxiety is a lot better he now attends college .see if Norwich has separate ref units for naughty kids and vunerable!he did try a mixed ref unit and got eaten alive hope you find something soon I know its very stressful.my son also never went out he was finally assessed at as having traits of aspergers and adhd.

As a poster said up thread, try red balloon. Red ballon also offers a virtual learning environment which may be more suitable for you son. Your council should fund this, although they may try to say they will not.