Attendance Panel. Advice appreciated re SEN mental health issues.

[SuperRainbows]

Mt Sil has received a letter from dns school calling her to a meeting about his attendance, which is currently 86%.

Dn15 has complex mental health issues and has 2 or 3 therapy sessions/appointments every week.

He is very bright, catches up on his work and is doing well academically. He overcame severe anxiety to go to school at all.

Sil has had a good relationship with school up to now and always keeps them informed with phone calls, emails and appointment cards.

I have tried to reassure her that if she explains the situation she will be okay as there are medical reasons for the absences, although I have to say that the letter is very heavy handed given they know the situation.

She is very worried because the letter says a target will be set and further action taken if this is not met. Fines and school enforcement orders are mentioned.

Has anyone had experience of this? Do these panels listen to individual cases? If not can she appeal if the target is set impossibly high?

She should meet with her head of year first.
My dd's attendance goes below target levels due to anxiety.
I get sent the letters because they are sent automatically.
We had a second stage letter before half term and went and had a chat with the year head who is very aware of my dd's problems.
They said the attendance officer will get involved if we trigger a 3rd letter which I'd imagine is what's happened to your sister.

They will need evidence of why your nephew is off and I would be making sure the school are putting in place ways for him to attend school with the least anxiety.

My dd can leave a class at anytime to go to the a centre within the school for support if she isn't coping. She can work in there if need be.

Tell your sister not to worry and pm or ask on here if I can help anymore
for your sister

Medical appointments should be classed a authorised absences I would think. Hopefully this is a standard school letter, and the actual meeting will be much more sympathetic.

Thanks for replying Ihatethecold.

Sil has had previous letters and has responded with phone calls and meetings each time. I think this is why she is upset at the escalation to Education Social Welfare meeting. She felt she had done her best to keep school informed.

Dn also has access to support area in school and can leave class at any time. He also takes exams in a quiet room.

Maybe this is just a hoop school and sil need to jump through, hopefully together!

I'm glad you and your dd have a supportive and understanding school.

Thanks for replying mumteadumpty.

The appointments are all authorised, but they have affected his attendance and that is their issue.

This will be a formality.
Tell her to keep calm and attend the meeting with a view that they should be looking at how they can support your nephew to be in school.
I always get told in my dd's letters about fines etc.
They won't fine her. She is clearly engaging with the school and has proof and I'd imagine referral letters for mental health services.

Has he had any unauthorised abenses?

If not, some thoughts for her:

• he is still missing a lot of school, this is not either his fault or that of his parents
• are the authorities offering some form of additional support to ensure his education and expected progress is not compromised by his medical condition?
• if they make even the slightest hint that their medical absences are excessive, ask for that in writing with the full name and registration number of the HCP on whose medical opinion they are making that recommendation.

The last suggestion is a little combatative, so you need to make sure that you come across as cooperative/concerned (not abrasive), leaving the impression that you want this info to discuss with his consultant and so you need the specific concerns of which interventions, in LA's HCP's views, are not required (either at all or at this level of intensity)

Thanks for replies and good ideas.

Dn has no unauthorised absences. Camhs have been into school and psychiatrist has written letters of support that school have acted upon, so they are aware of issues dn faces.

It's just an extra worry my sil could do without.

He is covered by the Equality Act. Might be worth her looking at it before she goes into the meeting. They can not penalise him for going to therapy or proffesional appointments. They would breach the Disability part of the equality act and can be fined themselves. It could be argued by sending threats in the letter then are breaching the philosophy of the law. As he has no unauthorised absence they are discriminating him because of a documented health condition and that is unlawful.

This is a standard thing now. There will be a cut off for attendance (from your figures it is probably 90) and the school and the EWO will be working together to reduce the level of absence in any pupil with less than 90% attendance.
They will not bend the process as they will be concerned that some parents will start to throw around accusations of the school is not doing anything about X's attendance. So they will be seeing all parents but if the issues are well documented then it is going to be a discussion about whether they as a school can do anything to help, not a negative you must improve type of interview.

Thank you lacebell and admission.

I wondered if they could be breaking the law with their approach.

What's worrying sil is letter states target for improvement and review date will be set. She feels like they are setting him up for failure, as he will continue going to appointments and attendance figures will not improve.

The letter will be fairly standard, tell her not to worry too much. Most likely a formality. They won't take enforcement action if a genuine case and supported by evidence, which it sounds like it is. They may also be worried with Y11 looming.

Thanks ASauvignon
Have you any experience of them setting an unreasonable target that presumably she will be asked to agree to?

Any targets will have to be reasonable. As an example, I met with a family last week who had two children, for one the target was 100% attendance and medical evidence to be provided to support absences, but for the second child where the case is more complex (school refuser) the targets were based around a phased return, visiting the GP etc. and things that would support them.
I have had to send letters or meet with families who I know are genuine and it honestly is a formality, and I explain that to them. Often there is no target setting at all, it is more to gain further information so we can't understand the situation better and make sure we are all doing 'the right things', which it sounds like you are.

Thanks for reply. You sound really reasonable, I hope the ESW my sil meets is like you!

The letter states a target will be set and a review date set. She's worried this is setting her son up to fail and may make his anxiety worse.

She is also keen not to be seen as an awkward parent, but is worried about signing a target, which she knows is impossible due to the amount of therapy sessions planned over the coming months.

The figure on paper in no way does justice to the support she gives him and the struggles he has overcome to go to school.