MPs hear evidence on School absence of disabled children

SSIF • June 6, 2023

MPs hear evidence on school absence of disabled children

MPs must address the disproportionate number of children with complex special educational needs (SEN) among severe-absence statistics, a parliamentary committee heard last week.

Speaking on behalf of the Special Education Consortium, of which Contact is a member, Dr Daniel Stavrou told MPs: “It feels misguided to approach this in a punitive way.”


The Education Committee listened to evidence from charity professionals as part of its inquiry into persistent absence and support for disadvantaged pupils.


We submitted evidence to the inquiry earlier this year. In our submission, we identified the biggest factor contributing to absence among children with SEN as unmet need. Just under 40% of calls to our helpline come from parents who say the school or local authority is not providing the right support for their child. Many parents are resorting to home schooling their child as schools become less willing to make reasonable adjustments.



We also hear from parents that the school environment and culture is detrimental to their child’s needs. Schools are under pressure to strive for high attendance from both OFSTED and the Children’s Commissioner. Chasing attendance figures is coming at the cost of pupil wellbeing and good relationships with parents.


A culture shift is needed

o rectify this, we suggest a culture shift. The government must look beyond the quantitative figures collected by OFSTED and focus on how schools are supporting pupils with barriers to attendance.


We would suggest seeking solutions by documenting good practice in schools achieving high rates of attendance for pupils with SEN.


Schools should also be building and fostering strong relationships with families. Parents should not be facing threats from schools for persistence absence, particularly where absence is authorised for medical reasons.


Schools should look into bespoke options for supporting children with SEN, including flex-Schooling.


School attendance advice for families in England

We have advice about school attendance on our website, including information on what your rights are if your child is absent due to medical reasons.



If you are considering home educating your child, visit our Home Education webpage to understand what your duties and options are.


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The Children's Learning Disability Service (CLDS) is due to be recommissioned in 2027.
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One of our favourite Events is our regular monthly coffee morning, where Parent Carers can get together to share their experiences. Every month we have the Local Offer team with us and invite 1 or 2 additional special guests from for example Health, Social Care, Education and more, to offer guidance and advice. There is also a sensory play creche available for your little ones aged 0-5 with Chaos & Calm. Come along and chat to other ParentCarers, get advice from one of our SEND support service guests and enjoy a hot drink with something sweet. Booking is not required.
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“School Attendance Matters” but its not that simple! We know that that in recent years, at this time of year, social media and sometimes the news outlets too, become awash with campaigns relating to attendance at school and that this can be really distressing for some Parent Carers. Unfortunately, in the information widely circulating there is no clarity in how this affects children and young people with medical conditions, serious mental health challenges, or special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). As Parent Carers, our first instinct is always to protect our children and young people. Many of us are navigating incredibly complex situations, where our children maybe want to attend school but the reality of doing so is far from simple. It can feel deeply unfair to then open social media and be confronted with campaigns suggesting that not being in school will damage our child or young person’s future. When you’re already doing everything, you can to support your child – often against huge challenges - messages like these don’t feel supportive. Instead, they leave us feeling blamed, judged, or as though we aren’t doing enough. When in reality, we are working tirelessly to give our children and young people the best chance in life! We know there can sometimes be so much information that you don’t know where to turn but we thought it would be helpful to share some websites and information to find out more. We know that it is long but we have attached the “Working together to improve School Attendance” guidance document here and in particular the section relating to our families can be found at the end of Paragraph 2, pages 23-26. The guidance acknowledges that children and young people with long-term medical conditions, serious mental health challenges, or special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) can face extra barriers when it comes to school attendance. Schools are encouraged to have compassionate conversations with families in these situations, recognising that it isn’t always straightforward. If your child or young person struggles with school-based avoidance the first step we would encourage you to take is to reach out to their class teacher, SENDco or sometimes if available, the school mental health lead. If you feel that you aren’t being supported, the Local Offer have lots of information available on their website which can be found here , including links to books and apps that may be useful and details of who you can speak to, for example, the Access and Inclusion Team. SENDIASS also offer resources on their website with useful information about support available. Their information can be found here. Young Minds is a charity offering advice and information to give young people the tools to look after their mental health. They also aim to empower parents and professionals to be the best support they can be to the young people in their lives. You can find lots of resources on their website here . Similarly, Kids Inspire is a mental health charity that offers personalised recovery plans for children and families who have experienced trauma and have lots of information and resources on their website which can be found here. If your child or young person is experiencing high anxiety or very poor mental health we would strongly encourage you to speak with your GP to seek further support.  If you feel able to, we would be grateful to hear about your experiences, please use our family feedback form on our website or better still come along and see us at one of our Coffee mornings! 😊
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