V low attendance due to illness - how do we manage GCSEs?

[TheMildManneredMilitant]

Hello all, I could really do with some ideas as don't know where to go.

Dd is in year 10 and massively struggling with school attendance. She's nauseous/exhausted most of the time but still nothing diagnosed. (We've had multiple blood tests, some things like low iron and vit d identified but not shifted even with treatment).

She's probably at 40% attendance for the year and now we're on an agreement with school to do an hour a day, with a view to building it back up. I don't see her getting better and don't think we're ever going to get to full days. We have some core work to do outside of that which she's completing, but there are whole subjects where she hasn't had a lesson for weeks.

She's really bright but must now be so far behind. We can supplement some work at home through oak academy and look at some tutors but I just feel so overwhelmed by it. Me and Dh work full time and can't be there to constantly teach/cajole her.

We've got mocks this week - if she can get in for them. That'll give us a baseline. But beyond that just don't know how to manage this.

Any ideas about how to get her through her gcses? Or anyone been in a similar position and can offer reassurance it will be ok eventually?

Coeliac? The symptoms sound very similar.

Speak to the school about provision for children who can't attend school due to sickness. The Local Authority have a duty to provide educational in these circumstances if you are in England, so it's not extra work for the school. My DD has a similar thing going on and has been getting tutoring provision from our local authority. It's a mix of in person at our house and online. We had a choice of the subjects we wanted covered and how many hours a week, there was a minimum but they'd offer up to full time hours if wanted. Ours also offers support like mentors, youth groups with other kids also not in school and careers advice.

I think exactly what the provision looks like varies between local authorities, but in our area it's pretty good.

Reduce to maths, eng lang, eng lit, double science or even just one single science, and one other thing - needs to be something that doesn’t rely on others and can be self taught so History, Class Civ, Business, Sociology, comp sci.

Hi, could you ask to be referred to an immunologist? There may be some underlying issues that GP bloods are not picking up.
if possible, I would also ask to see an Occupational Therapist who could give you a structured return to school programme.
One of my children struggled with Chronic Pain Syndrome and we were lucky enough to live within reach of an NHS Paediatric Pain Unit (in Oxford) where he was seen by an amazing team (OT, psychologist, physiotherapist) who helped him improve his attendance from 45% in year 10 to full days in time to sit his GCSEs.
I know it’s not pain, but it’s a chronic illness that is preventing attendance so OT support might really help.
Good luck. It feels like a long lonely journey but there is help out there.

@Letsdothis23 thank you I'll add that to my list of things to speak to GP about. I'd never thought about option of OT for school setting.

My DD didn’t attend for most of Yr 10 and had 2.5 hrs per day from Nov of Yr 11 at a specialist centre run by a hospital. She also had tutoring online - some arranged by the school and some we paid for privately because the centre only did four subjects and wasn’t really set up for someone who is very academic. I’m also a teacher so did some of it. One subject she did on her own with a study guide and got a 9.

She went back to mainstream for A Levels and did very well.

There are other routes other than the school-based one but it helps to have a diagnosis. I have a no of ex-secondary colleagues who do one-to-one for Yr 10 and 11 students who have illnesses/ MH issues/ are ND and they do up to four hours per week in a variety of settings - online, at home or one-to- one at school in an office/ Support, with the young person having a part-time time table. Ask the SENCO or check the local offer at your council.

Unless there is new scientific research that I don't know about, there is no test for ME. A diagnosis is given when they have ruled out other things that it could be.

Yes for sure @blackbirdsaresinging I guess I was wondering if the DD's illness ticked the markers, and if ME had been considered really. It sounded like the condition of a couple of YP I know.

You are right tho there is no test as such for ME, as I understand it, it’s more a case of certain aspects of the illness indicating it and it not being anything else like anaemia.

You should be a MNERS

mind you without a diagnosis..

@dewne MNERS is just what your LA calls the s19 provision provided to those unable to attend due to a medical condition. Although the duty applies to all LAs, MNERS isn’t a term used in all LAs, so unless OP happens to live in your LA, it won’t be called the same. A diagnosis isn’t required for it either.

If she has ME (and probably this applies to ND burnout too) she should do less activity (physical, mental, emotional) than she currently feels capable of. That might be a very small amount. So I'd suggest she does English, Maths and whatever else she would like to do. ME is a horrible illness and makes life unpleasant enough. She really shouldn't be forcing herself to do STEM (for example) if her interests/talents lie elsewhere.

Tutors could be a great option - my son has low attendance but we top it up with lots of tutoring. Some of the tutors are teachers at his school

Or a proper online school like Kings Interhigh/Minerva? She might need to retake the year though as it's very late in the courses to change school

Ds2 was able to get hospital education initially as a consultant referred him as he was too ill for school. Once he was considered well enough to go to school we pushed for support as he still could not attend due to his mental health.

DS did 6 GCSEs (all the sciences, English Language and maths and a subject of his choice). The school paid for online learning through Academy 21. We paid for additional tutors.

He sat the exams in his own room with rest breaks. He passed all the exams (English with a resit) and is off to Uni in September.

There are many options that school can provide- keep pushing for more support - it is available.

Sorry your DD is going through this. I work with adults re-taking GCSEs and I would say

• focus on English Language and Maths
• If she can do more than that, focus on any that she likes or would want to use
• If she could do 5, that would get her over the threshold for a lot of jobs/A-levels/degrees, but only if she can cope
• If you can get some hours tutoring, get her a tutor for English and Maths, because those are the key ones
• Any others she can go into school for when she's well enough

Most of my students are people who did badly on GCSEs or were educated abroad and never did them. Some missed school due to illness or other situations and either never did GCSEs or failed them. Quite a lot pass with us aged 20-60. Some manage to do so despite all manner of illness, disability, home circumstances etc. If this year can't work because your daughter's illness, it doesn't mean it never will. Have hope.

I’m so sorry you and your daughter are in this position, OP. Her symptoms fit with Long Covid and there are thousands of kids similarly struggling. It’s worth you having a look at the Long Covid Kids website and joining the FB group if any of it feels familiar to you. There’s also the Tymes Trust for children and young adults with ME. You’ll find a wealth of information and support. Good luck xx

Have a look at the Facebook group "Not Fine in School" for resources and support and "HEFA Home Education for All".

I found both these groups helpful for my 2 children.

Like people are also saying your child has all their life to gain education, health has to come first.

If it is ME then it’s absolutely crucial that she doesn’t push through the fatigue as that risks making her worse - not just a bit worse, but a LOT worse.

The hallmark symptom of ME is an unusual pattern of fatigue called Post Exertional Malaise - it’s a boom and bust pattern, where you might feel you’re doing well one day but a couple of days later you end up in bed. The best way to manage it is to not give in to temptation on days when you feel you can do more stuff, but always do less than you think you can.

Me too, I taught myself from text books and was provided a languages tutor by the council for a few weeks before exams, my parents paid for a maths tutor for a few months. Everything else I did myself, still passed all my exams. I did get additional time and breaks during exams which helped too. others in similar situations dropped down to 5 subjects to focus their efforts on which might help in your situation.

Did help that I didn’t especially struggle in school and was motivated to do it without supervision, although this was in the days before social media and streaming so being home during the school day was terribly boring!

ETA: I had a diagnosis of ME

Yes this. She's legally entitled to suitable full time education (or as much as she can manage and suitable means it must be suitable for her to access with her health issues).

https://www.ipsea.org.uk/illness

its the LAs responsibility to ensure this is in place so don't be fobbed off back to school if school aren't doing anything. Don't be fobbed off with she needs a diagnosis or signing off by a GP, this is all unlawful. You will more than likely need to be pushy and be that parent as they don't like paying out for this but it's your daughters legal right to have suitable education. If it might be a long term problem you may want to consider an EHC needs assessment which will allow her to access education until she's 25.

I would be very surprised if this was possible. I'm in a similar situation with my eldest due to a mix of chronic illness and stress due to autism. Having discussed this with both school and the Autism Inclusion Team they said it's not legally possible as they have to deliver the curriculum. What they can do is temporarily reduce the timetable to facilitate a phased return to school in cases of extreme absence due to EBSA or illness, but that this would only ever be a temporary measure for a few months and they can't permanently drop subjects. This was presented to me as if the school has their hands tied by legal requirements.

I think in practice OP needs to prioritise some subjects over others and just decide to not revise the unnecessary ones.

I remember reading about home schooling needing only 2 hours a day of teaching. I’m not telling you to home school, but rather telling you that local authority tuition or private tuition will not need to be 6 hours a day.

Also - could your daughter have Long Covid? There are about 2 million of us. Having caught a mild dose of Covid in January 2021, I'm only just now almost recovered. If I do a lot of physical stuff, I pay for it with the sort of fatigue that feels as if my batteries are almost empty. Today I've been to church, visited friends in a nursing home and at 4pm am really tired. Daren’t tell my husband as he'd make sure I didn't do so much and that would make me sad. There are no tests for LC, but our GPs seem to understand that it's a definite problem...

Also - could your daughter have Long Covid? There are about 2 million of us. Having caught a mild dose of Covid in January 2021, I'm only just now almost recovered. If I do a lot of physical stuff, I pay for it with the sort of fatigue that feels as if my batteries are almost empty. Today I've been to church, visited friends in a nursing home and at 4pm am really tired. Daren’t tell my husband as he'd make sure I didn't do so much and that would make me sad. There are no tests for LC, but our GPs seem to understand that it's a definite problem... Lots in common with ME

Contact school and local authority and ask about Section 19 provision. She's entitled to a full-time education and they all have to work together to support that. Please be careful that you're not allowing the school to only do the bare minimum as they have access to local authority support for this type of situation.
Also look at parring back the GCSEs to what she needs for the next steps, often there are A levels where you don't have to have done the preceding GCSE but need 5 GCSEs to access the course, look at BTECs for the next stage if the fatigue and nausea are likely to be an ongoing problem as they tend to be more 'modular' in nature.