School refusal what to do next

[Mrscouldron]

Hi all
I will try to keep this brief. Both of my kids have sen. Ds has asd, pda and adhd and behaviour is very challenging. Dd has asd and pda and is very anxious with it. Have homeschooled both for around 2 years up until nov. Put them back into school as we felt we needed to try. Neither have ehcp as previous schools refused to do them and then essentially blocked us from doing it. Fast forward to now and both a refusing to go into school point blank. No matter what we do they won’t go in. School are marking absences as unauthorised and have said there is no chance they will start the ehcp process. What do we do? I feel like we are being forced to dereg again. Has anyone been in this position before and managed to get an ehcp? Thanks for any advice.

Please apply for an EHCP yourself. You don’t need to wait for school to do this. We submitted a parental EHCNA application after school refused to submit. It was the best thing we did to support our child and it meant that we were in the driving seat with the process rather than relying on someone else.

Did the school provide any evidence to help with this? The school at the moment are saying they have no evidence which is nonsense.

You can request EHCNAs yourself. On their websites, IPSEA has a model letter you can use. Appeal if refused.

In the meantime, if your DC are compulsory school age (I presume they are) and can’t attend school full time, the LA’s has a statutory duty to ensure they receive a suitable, full-time education. Email the Director of Children’s Services about this. IPSEA also has a model letter for this. Post back here if the LA refuse, ignore or delay and you will be advised of the next steps.

Personally I wouldn’t deregister and EHE. Parents find it easier to get support when their DC remain in the system even if DC can’t attend. Crudely, you are someone’s problem and the LA are responsible. Whereas if you EHE it is easier for professionals to sweep DC’s needs under the carpet and the LA will say you are making suitable alternative arrangements thereby receiving them of their duty to provide education.

Alongside this, email the school challenging the unauthorised absences. Remind them DfE’s attendance guidance states absences should be recorded as authorised where pupils cannot attend due to illness (both physical and mental health related), and the regulations (Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006) make it clear where a pupil is absent because they are unable to attend due to their medical needs the absence must be regarded as authorised. Go on to say that as DC are not receiving alternative education under s.19 of the Education Act 1996 and an EHCNA has not been requested the school and LA could have done and still can do more to support DC with their needs arising from their disabilities.

You can submit SAR to the school to gather evidence.

Thank you so much this is amazing. X

Yes they said that to us too. But when push came to shove, the Senco was able to provide detailed information for us. In fact our LA were very helpful in getting the school to provide what was needed.

Did you get an ehcp in the end? At the moment the school are not communicating at all with us. They are ignoring emails and not returning calls.

@Mrscouldron yes we did get an EHCP and our preferred school named in section I at the first time of trying - it is well worth applying yourself.

Every parent I speak to is saying this about their SEND teams at their kids’ schools- they are virtually uncontactable because they are overwhelmed due to years of staffing cuts since austerity plus rising school caseload.

The only way to get ours to respond is to copy in the Head. They are all absolutely apologetic about it but they’re completely overstretched so after a while this is the only way. If Head intervention is no good, then you could contact your local SENDIASS and ask them to support you in contacting the school for a discussion. It’s not OK for them to just not respond.

Be careful with SENDIASS. Some are good, but far too many repeat the LA’s unlawful policies.

Good point Thomas I think we have been lucky with our local SENDIASS.

SENDIASS advised me that the school can mark the absences as unauthorised. Which goes against what’s been said here and what I’ve read online. I feel completely hopeless. We cc the head into every email but it hasn’t helped at all. We feel at such a loss. It’s so sad that I know we are not alone and lots of schools are in this state.

This would support that if the kids are on roll then they can and should be authorised absences if it’s EBSA https://notfineinschool.co.uk/home/f/absence-due-to-illness---do-mental-health-problems-count

Ignore SENDIASS. The problem with them is they receive LA funding so are not truly independent and will ultimately toe the party line. IPSEA and SOSSEN are far better, IMO.

Might be showing my naivety here but what are the consequences of unauthorised absence in this situation?

Would this not be a ‘good’ thing in terms of shining a brighter spotlight & sooner on it?

Having issues with non attendance ourselves at the moment since the return after Xmas. DS, year 9, who has an EHCP, left mainstream at the end of last year & started an LA nominated semh school in Sept, but is now having some issues there. School have ignored our email explaining DS absence, but coincidentally & conveniently we have an Early Help Worker who had already pencilled in a Team Around The Family meeting at School for later this week, and she has also emailed the head without response so far.

In these circumstances, I’m pretty sure we have very good ammunition if this was deemed unauthorised absence?

Far better to have the absences accurately recorded. In part, as proof DC could not attend due to their health.

Unauthorised absences can result in schools/LAs threatening legal action. Often they wouldn’t have a case if parents challenged it, but it is a tactic used to scare parents.

At the moment we cannot speak with anyone in the school. They are ignoring all emails and calls and never returned.

Could you keep a log of all this and contact the school governors and local authority’s SEN department, to complain that the school which your children are on roll with, are not engaging with you. It’s unacceptable and will be causing detriment to your family.