DD14 missing lessons, school doing nothing about it

[loobyloo1977]

My DD is in year 10. She was diagnosed with ADHD, dylexia and dyscalculia a couple of years ago. She's never been a fan of school but this year it has got a lot worse and she has started truanting from certain lessons. The reason for truanting is that she feels overwhelmed in the class as it so large with over 30 students (last year most of her classes were 10-15 students) and she doesn't understand the teacher as he talks so fast, also she doesn't have a close friend in the lesson with her which might sound silly but she is very reliant on her friends for support. She has missed over 6 weeks of history lessons now as she has truanted each time she has a lesson, sometimes she has been caught, most times not. If she is caught she gets a 40 minute detention with SLT which she would rather do than the actual lesson. Once she went in to another lesson for a subject she doesn't even study and pretended she was another student which I know she shouldn't have done but school didn't even realise, this was so she could be with a friend. Sometimes she goes to see her pastoral manager to talk to her but she just gets told to go away.

I have sent numerous emails to school but have not had a response. So today she missed yet another lesson and just sat outside on a bench in the yard. School would've had no idea she was there. I encourage her to just try the lesson but I really don't know what to do if she just won't go. Even if she goes back to the lesson she will really struggle to catch up as she has missed so much.

Please could someone give me some advice as I really don't know how to tackle this. Thank you

Are school telling you about truanting or is she?

They have given up op after years of involvement and effort

they have hundreds and hundreds of other pupils to educate and deal with

I am afraid your daughter has now slipped through the net

Have a think about what you want the school to do. Because they can't physically force her to go. Do even if they do notice (which they should) what do you want them to do?

(last year most of her classes were 10-15 students)

why?

I assume she is doing her GCSEs?
Schools have hundreds of children to teach, if your daughter doesn't want to go into the lesson and learn then at this point in her education this is on her. All these excuses about why she cannot be in the lesson like everybody else manages to can no longer wash without trying to sound really mean. There are too many kids and not enough staff or resources to deal with all this.

Only she can do it.

I know via ClassCharts and from an email from SLT when she was caught truanting. My DD also tells me. I just want to support her and get her to go to the lessons but I don't know how to

Those poor teachers.. no wonder they are leaving in droves. Maybe try homeschooling and get a taste of how hard it is, trying to educate students who have no desire or intention to be there.

Yes, that's my question!

You have misunderstood

she is in a state comp

why were the classes 10-15?

She's fibbing about going to another lesson and pretending to be another student. Her photo wouldn't match on the register, plus the teacher would red flag it. Unless the teacher did, and she's being punished for that?
Anyway. You can't get away with that nowadays.
Is she hiding on site, perhaps in the toilets?

No I haven't misunderstood. Like the pp I quoted, I'm asking why the classes were so small.

Does she actually want to do History? As she's Year 10 presumably she chose it? Can she switch to another subject?

I am so sorry!

I thought you were the op

Plus I don't know why she's missed 6 weeks of History lessons and you've not been called into school for a meeting?

No problem 😊

Can you arrange a face to face appointment with school and SENCO to draw up a plan to encourage her to attend lessons?

True, plus it sounds like she's missed half a term, which is bonkers.

Does she have an ECHP?

What are you doing about it??

What do you mean by she sometimes gets caught? Surely the teacher will see she's not physically present and then she's caught by way of absence.

Every time she's not there should be recorded and addressed.

It shouldn't only be classed as truanting if the kid is actually sighted leaving the building or outside school grounds.

If she's missed this much she may need a tutor to catch up? Would she accept that? Otherwise they may just say she has to withdraw from that subject. I'd hope they'd encourage/support her in other ways but I presume they lack resources.

What supports are in place for her adhd and dyslexia? Is she on meds?

I think this is on you to solve. Go to her gp. Get a ECHP in place. Make an appointment with the senco. I’m not in the UK but there must be an adhd organisation and a dyslexia organisation that can give you some ideas. Is there an option to do that subject online?

She will be one of several truanting and the school simply won’t have the time or capacity to address it unless you push really hard and do a lot of the work yourself.

You're right. She'll have been identified as missing each time.

In the title OP says that the school is doing nothing about it, as though there is no responsibility on the girl to attend lessons. It’s a passive response.

I think you should ask for a meeting with the SENCo and copy in her form tutor and the subject teacher. As PPs have said, presumably she chose History as a GCSE subject, so why was that if she doesn’t like it?

I’m surprised to hear that class sizes have doubled between Year 9 and Year 10. Surely she must have been in classes of that size previously though, either in core subjects or at primary school.

Do you have any understanding of ADHD overwhelm? And why the majority of EBSA’s are ND?

I left teaching 5 years ago. Any kid missing from lessons at my school had to be alerted to Senior Managememt within 5 mins of lesson starting. A text then immediately went out to parents. Kid was usually tracked down and returned to lesson.

This has terrible safeguarding written all over it.

Her classes last year were smaller because they were set in ability groups. As history is such a popular option subject they are now very large mixed ability classes. Maths, English etc are set in ability classes so they are still small.

she doesn’t have an EHCP