How school can help your child

When a child or young person starts to have problems attending school its really important that this is recognised early, and support starts to be offered quickly. The more school that a child misses, or the longer they are out of school altogether the more difficult it can be for them to return.

Schools will have a range of things they can try to help support your child, and will use a ‘graduated approach’ when implementing these.

What is a graduated approach?

A graduated approach is a recognised four step process to ensure problems can be identified, support planned – and then implemented, and then a review is carried out as to how well this has worked. The steps are known as assess, plan, do and review.

• Assess: strengths and barriers to attendance are identified.
• Plan: support is planned to remove barriers to attendance.
• Do: the planned support is put in place.
• Review: Is the support helping? What are the next steps? If good progress is being made support may be able to be reduced, and may no longer be needed at all. If there are still concerns about attendance then the cycle needs to start again, with another assessment, new plan, and further review, until good progress is being made.

Taking a graduated approach to EBSA means that difficulties can be identified early, and the right support can be put in place for a pupil.

There are various things that schools can try, to help support any child or young person having problems attending school or lessons.

These include:

• Soft starts to the day and/or ways to support transitions from home to school. A soft start is a way to ease children into school at the beginning of the day in a calm and gentle way. Examples of this include going to breakfast club, reading before starting lessons, having time with a trusted adult to talk about the day ahead, or starting school at a slightly different time to avoid coming in with lots of people at the same time.
• Giving your child alternative places to go for break and lunch times if they find social places too crowded.
• Reasonable adjustments to uniform and behaviour polices.
• Adaptations to teaching and homework.
• Regular home and school communication.

Whilst most children can be supported to attend school through schools and families working well together and by good ordinarily available inclusive practice and provision, some children will require more help via ordinarily available targeted support. 

Developing a stepped support plan

You can collaborate with your child’s school and your child to create a stepped support plan. This should identify your child’s worries, possible reasons behind non-attendance and a range of ordinarily available targeted support that can be put in place. This will involve setting some short and long-term goals together, so that you can measure whether progress is being made.

Your child’s input in the plan is crucial. The plan should be regularly reviewed to ensure the support is working or to make necessary adjustments.

Ordinarily available targeted support

Ordinarily available targeted support to help wellbeing and attendance can include:

• Daily check-ins for your child with a trusted adult at school, such as their teacher or teaching assistant.
• Time with an adult to discuss feelings and emotions, either one-on-one or in a group.
• Support to enhance your child’s friendship skills and address any conflicts.
• Agreed communication methods between home and school or ways for your child to contact you during the day if anxious, like a single phone call home.
• Changes to your child’s timetable. Adjusting your child’s timetable based on their preferences and difficulties can help them focus on subjects they enjoy, motivating them to attend school. Success in these subjects may reduce anxiety and boost their confidence. Some schools offer short-term positive interventions to help build friendships, confidence, and a sense of belonging, encouraging regular attendance.
• Part-time timetable (Annexe R). Sometimes it’s suitable for schools and families, along with external professionals, to agree on temporarily reducing a child’s school day. Since every child has a legal right to education, using a part-time timetable means limiting this right. Hence, it must be considered carefully and reviewed regularly to ensure it benefits the child.
• Guidance from external professionals such as the Education Inclusion Service, Attendance Improvement Officers, SEND advisory teaching teams, mental health support teams, education key workers and educational psychologists. Please note: not all schools have access to all these services.
• Referrals to additional Early Help or Health services to support the school, you, and your child, with clear timelines for these referrals.

For a small number of children who are unable to attend school, schools can put in place more specialist individualised support with help from other agencies. Ordinarily available and targeted support should form part of this individualised approach.

It’s important to speak with your child’s school to find out what support is available to you and your child. 

Whilst your child may be attending very infrequently or may have stopped attending at all, it is important that there is still an active plan to support their education. This can include a stepped support plan written with your child and their school.

Stepped support plan

A stepped support plan can be used to help your child to return to school by focusing on small achievable steps. This is also known as a reintegration plan. The stepped support plan can outline ways to reconnect your child with school and their friends by breaking things down into small steps.

This might include:

• doing some school work at home
• having phone or email contact with a member of staff
• meeting friends in the community
• putting on school uniform and going for a walk
• walking past the school with someone they trust
• coming into school for a short time
• meeting a friend in school
• going into the student support centre or similar
• attending a preferred lesson

If there are other professionals working with your child, they can contribute to the stepped support plan so that everyone is working together. Your views and your child’s views should be central to the plan.

The stepped support plan will outline the support that the school can put in place for your child to help them to come back to school.

This might include:

• sending work home
• regular contact with a trusted adult from school
• reduced timetable
• accessing learning in the student support centre
• talking about their worries with a trusted adult
• regular meetings to review the support plan with your child, school, and other professionals

What else might help?

Support from Inclusion Services

If your child has medical or health needs and hasn’t been attending school regularly, your SENCO or other professional may suggest speaking to the local authority for support. This is sometimes called a ‘Section 19’ referral. According to Section 19 of the Education Act 1996, local authorities must arrange suitable education for children who can’t attend school due to illness, exclusion, or other reasons.  In Devon, this may include alternative education support. It’s advisable to discuss it with your child’s school in the first instance.

Education, health and care (EHC) plans

For a very small number of children and young people who have special educational needs (SEN) it may be necessary for them to have an education, health and care (EHC) plan. An EHC plan may be suitable if your child needs more support than is available through the ordinarily available inclusive provision (OAIP) and targeted support.

An EHC plan is a legal document that sets out a child or young person’s education, health and care needs and the additional support required. You may request an education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment if you think your child needs an EHC plan.