attendance processes

[ItIsntReallyLikeThat]

Hi,

I wondered if I might ask for advice? I have name changed.

My DS13 has been out of school for 5 months with anxiety and panic attacks. He is having an EHCP assessment and the Ed Psych report concluded that he should not be in mainstream school.

The conclusion basically was that my son has PTSD from medical treatment in early years, and is triggered badly by the gritty parts of the curriulum. This is especially a problem in the powerpoint teaching in which bit of nastiness can come on every and any slide, keeping him in a constant state of panic. He also has complex food intolerance problems and can't get food in school even with a packed lunch.

The report went to panel last week but I haven't heard back yet.

The school are marking my son's absense as unauthorised, because no medic is able to sign him off. Both MHST and GP said they can't do it. Private psychotherapy letter was not accepted.

The school organised a tutor for my son, but DS can't cope with talking to him. I did tell the school that he couldn't, but they got me to sign the IEAP form anyway because they said they'd already paid for the tutor and said I couldn't back out. They are now talking about starting attendance procedures because I signed the form and DS is not working with the tutor.

The stress of being involved with the school is shredding my whole family and making my son's anxiety and food interolance worse. The more anxious he gets, the harder it is for us to keep the family stable, as even sleeping is becoming very hard.

I talked to the school teacher reponsible for all this on the phone and she said she's sorry, but the school system is all based on process and rules and the rules just don't take account of this situation, so they are really stuck. She says she doesn't think anyone in their right mind would take us to court for non-attendance, but I can't seem to find anyone in the public services who is allowed to use their right mind, and I am quite concerned about this. I have read "The Secret Barrister" and don't want to go anywhere near the court system.

Loads of people have told me that I mustn't deregister as I must keep my DS as "the school's problem", but in reality, the school is making their fear of Ofsted our problem.

I've been all the way through the formal complaints procedure and it did nothing but make the SLT angry at me. I called Ofsted and they didn't help. My son has had no access to education for 5 months. He was working well at home initially but all the craziness from the school has derailed that.

I have found private tutors in all his subjects and I wonder if he might be able to work better if I could just get rid of the school and all the nightmare of the public services tying themselves in knots.

I wondered if you think I should just give up and deregister?

My son is highly intelligent and ambitious. He was working at all 7-9s before he stopped attending.

We have a private child and family therapist working with us to fix the anxiety.

All the people who have offered concrete help have been private. The exception is MHST and the council Ed Psych who were both good. I couldn't have got access to either without the school's help, as my own attempt to request EHCP assessment and MH referral through the GP failed.

Thanks!

No, if the LA has agreed to assess it must continue with the process. OP can make it clear that for immediate purposes she wants education provided through EOTAS.

Some schools will identify a student as emotionally based school avoiding, (Ebsa). My dd, yr9, has a reduced timetable, lessons at school mixed with home learning. The aim is to gradually increase but even when she goes back fulltime she doesn't have to go to her most triggering lesson, she will be in the safe space room with other work.
I know it's a bit different but maybe they could consider something like this for your ds. Cahms first mentioned it to me and it may be a regional thing but might be worth looking into.

Minerva's Virtual Academy is a bit different to the other online providers, it might be worth another look. They have small classes and a personal tutor who they meet with every week.

From my experience they are very kind and accommodating. E.g. some subjects or lessons could be skipped. The child doesn't have to have their camera on. Lessons are recorded and so can be watched afterwards. The teachers and tutor might work together to identify potential triggers and work around those.

This all builds trust and safety to help a child learn and recover where possible.

Personally, I wouldn’t deregister. Instead I would challenge the unauthorised absences. Alongside this I would push the LA to provide a suitable, full-time education. If the tutor isn’t suitable the LA need to provide alternative education that is suitable.

IPSEA has a model letter you can use to request provision.

Write to the school requesting the absences are authorised. Add in that the regulations (Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006) make clear where a pupil is absent because they are unable to attend due to their medical needs the absence must be regarded as authorised. Also state the DfE’s attendance guidance states unless the authenticity of the illness is genuinely questioned the absence must be authorised. Copy the LA in.

and the EHC assessment process will stop

No it doesn’t. By EHE the LA does not have to provide s19 provision, but the EHCP process continues.

I suspect a lot of people telling you not to deregister are those who think that by holding out for an EHCP you can get the LA or school to pay for tutors. The problem is, what happens in the meantime? Your son isn’t being educated and his anxiety is worsening with the stress from the school. Personally in your situation I think I would deregister, put in place all the tutors etc that you have identified and just focus on education and wellbeing.

‘Everyone’ is always advising me to get an EHCP for my son. We applied and were refused assessment and I know that we met the legal threshold and could have appealed but by that stage I was too exhausted by the process. I’ve told his current school that if they want to apply we will support, but we’re not doing another parental application.

What I read about on a daily basis is parents fighting for a needs assessment, then fighting for an EHCP to be issued, then fighting for the content of the EHCP to be meaningful, then fighting for the school to actually implement what the EHCP says. The process takes years and is so demoralising and almost tears families apart. Some parents get their child into specialist or independent provision for year 7 only to find the LEA is trying to move them out at year 9/10.

When people advise me now to get an EHCP I just smile and ignore. I’m putting my efforts in working with his secondary school (he’s year 7) to put the support he needs in place and I’m lucky that they are supportive and cooperative. For example they have agreed to flexischooling do he spends one day a week at home focusing on his extra curricular interests. They’ve got him a key worker and agreed to a play therapist seeing him in school once a week (funded by us) and he can go to the inclusion centre for lessons that he struggles with.

I her where you’re coming from with paying for all this private tuition going against your political views but honestly, you are just doing the best for your child - you have been forced into this because of other people’s political views voting in a party who has massively underfunded the education system for 14 years. Had more people shared your political views I don’t think the situation would be half as bad for our kids right now. Good luck!

what happens in the meantime?

OP doesn’t need to hold out for the EHCP in order to get s19 provision. It is separate legislation that can be enforced separately to the EHCNA process. In the meantime, from DS’s perspective, nothing needs to be different just because he is on the roll but unable to attend compared to if OP deregistered.

It is brilliant you can afford not to pursue an EHCP. For many, they will not have their needs met without one and the support, including therapies which OP’s DS clearly requires, are far beyond the means of the vast majority of parents. Provision DC who are unable to attend MS require can often add up to the tens of thousands per year, sometimes to the points costs far more than £100k pa.

I think what they mean is that by deregistering you would lose access to the tuition and funded provision that the school / LA is obliged to provide.

If home Ed is best for your son, if you don’t want to dance to the LA’s tune and are prepared to take responsibility for his education including any associated costs, then deregistering is the way forward.

We’re making the same decision for one of our dc atm.

Thank you very much, this is really helpful.

I talked to my DH. I've been saying for the last 5 months that we musn't deregister, and it is hard for him to get his head around the idea that I might just suddenly change my mind on that.

Part of the lucky thing is that DH and I can teach all DS's 8 GCSEs ourselves. So we would reduce our costs by doing that.

I have a meeting with the school the first day back from Easter, so I suppose that will help to decide things.

It seems to me increasingly unlikely that there is any sense battling with the system.

I volunteer in patient advocacy in the NHS and things are so hard there too. I really feel for the staff of the public services. I don't know how our country went so wrong so fast. It melts my head tbh.