Essex Mum among 60% hike in parents asking for help to tackle "school refusal"
Action for Children's also warning that long waits for specialist educational support is contributing to a rise in school absence
A mum from Essex is among many parents who are figuring out how to work with their children to combat school refusal.
It's as Action for Children reveal they've seen a 60% rise in parents and carers seeking help for school refusal from their Parent Talk service.
Their ‘How do I deal with school refusal and school anxiety?' article was visited 50,000 times last year, a rise of more than 60% on 2021/22.
School refusal and anxiety has now become the number one issue for parents and carers seeking advice on the Action for Children service.
“We remortgaged our house to pay for home schooling...”
Louise, from Essex, has struggled to get the right support for her 15-year-old daughter, especially after the pandemic.
"After the pandemic, Charlotte found the school environment very stressful, and ended up depressed and anxious. She missed a lot of school in the lead up to the summer holidays at the end of the last school year and refused to go back to school for most of September this year.
"She’s on a waiting list for an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis, which can take up to 18 months. I asked the school for a reduced timetable in the meantime as I felt this would help her attendance, but they said they couldn’t do that without a diagnosis. We couldn’t get her a place in a special educational needs (SEN) school without a diagnosis either, so we were stuck.
‘We ended up remortgaging our house to pay for home schooling, but she found the tasks too easy and didn’t want to log on for the lessons. I’ve now paid for a GP letter to support our request for a reduced timetable just to be able to keep her in mainstream school.
"Once that was agreed, she went back to school for the first time in weeks. But that’s what I had asked for from the beginning. It feels like there’s no flexibility in the education system.’"
"We've seen her go through some really awful mornings, of literally sitting in the car and sobbing, and trying to persuade that child that you're gonna be ok, is really almost impossible some weeks, it's exhausting."
"You really see that impact on children and parents"
Joe Lane is head of policy and research for the group:
"One mum we spoke to is a nurse, she has more than one child and is trying to hold down her full-time job. She's understandably really anxious about her child's welfare and their education as well. So you really see that impact on children and parents.
He says home-schooling has both pros and cons:
"For some it works well when they are struggling with school work or anxiety- it means they can just do their work at home. On the other hand, some parents say this way of learning gives children the option to say- I don't really need to go into school"
"That's creating that anxiety which puts pressure on children"
He told us why these figures are up by so much:
"Lots and lots of children are waiting for mental health support and special educational support. Their parents know they need support, that's getting in the way of them doing as well as they can, at school. That's creating that anxiety which puts pressure on children and means they're not going to school as much as they should.
"We also see that the attendance issue is related to a range of other things. Government have started to roll out family hubs that brings together support services. But at the moment that's only in half of local authorities"
What's the Government saying on this?
Schools Minister, Nick Gibb said:
"We know that the best place for children to learn is in the classroom, and the vast majority of children are currently in school and learning.
Though pupil attendance is continuing to recover, the pandemic has still had a real impact on pupil absence in school.
That is why we’re expanding some of our most important attendance measures – including the attendance hubs and mentoring programmes, to ensure children have the best chance of receiving a high-quality education" .