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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Dd bad anxiety and not allowed study leave.

72 replies

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 05/05/2022 08:47

Is not allowing study leave a legal requirement.

DD has severe anxiety. We’re battling constant severe headaches, lack of sleep, meltdowns. She’s getting counselling and is on medication. She’s quite bad.

She doesn’t go on study leave until 1/2 term. But l think it would be more beneficial for her if she was allowed to start at the first exam. She’s conscientious and hardworking, but is really not well with anxiety.

l asked the school if she could start earlier and they aren’t keen, even though it would be better for her. They want her to go in in case she needs to ask a teacher something. She’s generally too anxious to ever ask a teacher anything. I know in theory it’s better for them to go to school, but she’s just a mess.

Dies anyone know where the law stands on this?

OP posts:
TeenPlusCat · 05/05/2022 16:06

I realised that nobody dies when DD missed all of y11 last year due to anxiety & depression. OP view it as a win she is going in at all and able to sit any exams.
Best wishes.

Lougle · 05/05/2022 16:14

@TeenPlusCat I'm in that situation but year 10. What did you do about it?

TeenPlusCat · 05/05/2022 16:20

@Lougle Because of the situation last year, DD was able to sit assessments for 4 GCSEs at home, ended up with 3s, but only was able to do max 30mins per day prep for a week for each. She's now on a level 1 course at college while she continues to recover. (We only got her on full dose anti depressants in April last year). She had had 1hr private English tutoring throughout the pandemic but that was it.

Lougle · 05/05/2022 16:44

That sounds really positive. We're waiting for the Education Inclusion Service to meet with us. I'd like to think she could get 5 at 9-3 because she wants to do an apprenticeship, but at the moment she's only been doing 6 hours per week and none of them are core subjects, so it's a big climb to achieve that in the next year, which might not be realistic.

TeenPlusCat · 05/05/2022 16:54

Have you got an EHCP yet?

I found it really tricky trying to navigate what was best, especially last year with lockdowns and special arrangements etc.

(Sorry OP, we've derailed you a bit. Hope you find a way to make your school be flexible.)

Lougle · 05/05/2022 17:09

The LA have to decide whether to make a plan by 03/06/22.

Onthegrid · 05/05/2022 17:15

OP is your DD being supported with extra time in exams and being able to take breaks?
We went through this with our eldest, although as it was a while ago they did have exam leave which really helped.

Original poster
ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 05/05/2022 17:48

She’s in a separate room but doesn’t want breaks.

Ive emailed my lovely GP. Just waiting for a response.

OP posts:
Cauliflowersqueeze · 05/05/2022 18:53

lanthanum · 05/05/2022 11:20

It's been shown that, ON AVERAGE, it's far more effective for them to work in school with guidance from teachers. I doubt it has been shown that this is the most effective plan for every student. There are some very bright and diligent students who are capable of better revision at home, because they can focus on what they need to and not what the teacher has chosen to look at that day. (This group can be better catered for in school if teachers are willing to let them study something else when appropriate - DD has an agreement with the teacher of her best subject that she can work on her worst subject in those lessons.) And there are some children who have specific issues such as anxiety that mean they will be able to cope better at home. You'd hope that it wouldn't be necessary to resort to a letter from the GP (as they have quite enough to do), but that might be the way to go if the school won't budge.

Show quote history

I’d be really interested to see that research, which I was not aware of. Could you link it please?

NeverDropYourMooncup · 05/05/2022 19:10

Study leave is not an entitlement. It's a possibility - and after this cohort have spent two years not being able to attend school, many schools are putting a huge amount of work into providing more support in classes - but the key is that many of those students would default to hanging around with their mates rather than cracking on with revision if they were allowed to 'study' at home. And enough safeguarding and MH issues came up over the lockdowns to know that a large number will be safer in school than being invisible until the morning of exams when they don't turn up or haven't done a single bit of revision for other reasons than they couldn't be arsed.

noblegiraffe · 05/05/2022 20:01

They wouldn't want to authorise study leave for an individual upon request because then most of Y11 would be asking to go on study leave.

Every year around this point some Y11s become mysteriously ill. I don't know if anything is ever done about it. If you have a doctor's note about the anxiety, I'd have thought you'd be covered?

Original poster
ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 05/05/2022 20:19

Covered for not going to study leave it covered from not attending school. She’s had so much time off with anxiety.

OP posts:
Original poster
ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 05/05/2022 20:27

Start again!

Would a doctors letter cover her for not going to study leave or cover her from absence.

Shes had so much time off.

OP posts:
noblegiraffe · 05/05/2022 20:28

But she has anxiety and it's affecting her physically therefore a valid reason to be off.

Original poster
ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 05/05/2022 20:28

Even on repeat l forgot the question mark.

OP posts:
noblegiraffe · 05/05/2022 20:32

What have they said about all the time she's already had off? Are they threatening fines or something that's making you worried about more time off?

Harridan1981 · 05/05/2022 20:32

I'm an attendance officer, and am having this very conversation re a couple of students right now.

My angle was that signing a child off to study leave earlier was more productive all round than marking as unauthorised and chasing repeatedly.

The year office staff are worried the children won't come in for exams if left to stay out for too long.

Inclusion lady from council not fussed either way as absence is absence as long as they do come in for exams. For some kids, the longer they're out the harder it is to come back in.

In all honesty, at this stage does it matter if she just stays home and is marked as unauthorised? I can't imagine any council in the land pursuing it, by the time they process any paperwork she'll have finished her exams and be leaving school, and they know that.

Only query would be what she wants to do after, as many colleges etc will look at attendance records.

Moonshine86 · 05/05/2022 20:35

I have a year 11 student in the same situation as you. She works from home completing work online. A doctors letter has been sufficient for the school to accept she will not be back until her exams.

ScottishBeeswax · 05/05/2022 20:40

I'm in Scotland and this age group go on study leave for the entire exam diet and always have done.
Never heard it's been an issue with kids not turning up!
The only ones in school at moment are those not sitting exams, which is very few

Sarahcoggles · 05/05/2022 20:59

It's funny how it's essential for kids to be at school now, when we've spent the last 2 years being told that online learning from home was just fine!

Harridan1981 · 05/05/2022 22:26

I think the worry is that children who are anxious and don’t want to go to school, may then struggle to come in for exams.

TeenPlusCat · 06/05/2022 07:15

The trouble is teachers can inadvertently make an anxious child more anxious.
They are doing their best for the majority, but talk in every lesson of 'only 3 weeks to go now, that's 7 lessons, so you need to be working hard' can really push some over the top.
For those that already find school a struggle due to any reason (crowds, noise, LD, SEN) the extra comments can just be too much pressure.

TeenPlusCat · 06/05/2022 07:21

Sarahcoggles · 05/05/2022 20:59

It's funny how it's essential for kids to be at school now, when we've spent the last 2 years being told that online learning from home was just fine!

Oh come on. You know that's a false argument.

No one said online was 'just fine'. However in a pandemic especially before full vaccines, it was better to be learning online from home than mixing in close quarters at school and children bringing home the virus to older family members. Plus of course teachers themselves being in some cases vulnerable. Extraordinary times led to extraordinary measures.

Additionally kids weren't online for 2 whole years. They had one term at the start, plus 1 (or 2?) national closures then random bubble/year/school closures due to local conditions.

TeenPlusCat · 06/05/2022 07:25

Harridan1981 · 05/05/2022 22:26

I think the worry is that children who are anxious and don’t want to go to school, may then struggle to come in for exams.

I think that is a fair worry.

However I trust individual parents to know whether keeping pushing on at school is going to be overall positive or negative. Going to school for intensive revision sessions surrounded by other stressed pupils winding each other up could be very different to calmly turning up and sitting an exam in silence.

FAQs · 06/05/2022 07:35

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow someone further up mentioned extra time, my dd suffers from stress and anxiety, she has awful abdominal migraines which makes her vomit and she had a panic attack in one exam, she thought she was dying and was so embarrassed, I had to pick her up as her legs went from under her and she couldn’t walk properly, she now has extra time, this allows her to almost meditate/breath at the start of the exam and focus, it’s really helped and she has found she isn’t so worried now and is handling exams much better. She does the box breathing technique which helps.