Attendance refers to when a pupil is not attending their school or setting but is expected to do so. If the school or setting is telling you that your young person is not allowed to attend, then this is considered an exclusion.
Attendance
Some children struggle to attend school because of anxieties or difficulties that may be associated with their special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
They may feel overwhelmed and this may present as emotional distress, physical complaints (complaining of feeling sick or have tummy ache) or be threatening to harm themselves if you make them go to school.
You can access the Leicestershire County Council support services if a child is at risk of, or has been excluded. You can request support from the Inclusion Service if you're concerned about a child's or young person's access to, or inclusion in, high quality education, employment, or training.
You can contact the Inclusion Service for advice or to make a referral if you're a parent or a carer. The school or professional, concerned about a child's or young person can also make a referral.
Alternatively, you can call or email the Inclusion service for information and advice:
Leicestershire County Council Inclusion team
Call: 0116 305 2071 during office hours
Email: inclusionpupilsupport@leics.gov.uk
Initial enquiries can be made anonymously, without providing details.
What should I expect the schools be doing to help
Schools have a legal duty under the Children and Families Act 2014 to work with you to identify and support any special needs that your child may have.
This means that if your child is struggling to attend school because of their SEND, their school should be working to offer appropriate support or to further investigate your child's SEND if not enough is known about it.
They can also take advice from and make referrals to other external support services and teams.
What can I do
If you think that your child doesn’t want to go to school because of their SEND, you could ask for a meeting with the school to discuss this. We can help you to prepare for a school meeting.
If you feel that the school are not able to meet your child’s needs you can also consider an EHC needs assessment .
If your child already has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), it may need to be reviewed. For example, it may be that your child has developed new social, emotional or mental health needs that are not covered by the existing plan. We can help you to prepare for a review.
You could also speak to your child's doctor (GP) about your concerns. If the GP agrees that your child is not currently able to attend school, ask them for a letter, to give as evidence to the school or local authority for their non-attendance.
If your child is not attending school due to a long term medical or mental health condition, you can find further information and advice on our medical needs page.
What are reduced and part-time timetables
All schools, academies and free schools have a statutory duty to provide full-time education for all pupils of compulsory school age.
Education should be:
-
Full-time
-
Efficient - the education must achieve what it sets out to achieve
-
Suitable - to their age, ability and aptitude and any special educational needs they may have. The education must also equip the child for life within the community and must not limit a child’s options in later life.
In exceptional circumstances, schools may decide to propose a reduced timetable to support a pupils needs.
There must be a clear reason and some evidence as to why this approach is needed.
The Equalities Act 2010 says that it is illegal for schools to discriminate against pupils on the basis of their special educational need and/or disability, including those with social emotional and mental health difficulties.
Key points for using reduced timetables
-
It must be done with parent agreement, otherwise it could be considered unlawful exclusion
-
Exclusion must not be threatened as a means of getting parent agreement
-
It must not be viewed as a long term solution, usually with a maximum of 6 weeks
-
It must plan towards the pupil increasing their time in school and for any support that they will need upon their return
-
It needs a time limit by which point the pupil is expected to attend full-time, or be provided with alternative provision
-
It needs to be monitored and reviewed regularly
-
Where a child is Looked After, subject to Early Help plan or any other services are involved, the timetable should be discussed with and agreed by all parties
-
If there is an EHCP, a review must be held and the local authority must agree to the reduced timetable and planning
-
A risk assessment should be done to look at the possible impact of the pupil being out of their education and agree how this can be managed
-
The arrangement should not negatively affect any agreed SEND transport arrangements
-
If the pupil is entitled to free school meals, these should be provided (perhaps as a packed lunch)
-
Absences should be formally recorded using an appropriate code as an authorised absence (often coded as 'C')
Further information
For further information, you could look at:
Exclusions
If your child has been sent home from school and you have been told that you cannot send them back, then this must be recorded formally in writing as an exclusion. If the school does not wish to formally exclude, then your child is still legally allowed to attend.
If your child is sent home for lunch, even with your agreement, then this still needs to be recorded as a half day exclusion.
Exclusions can provide evidence that your child's needs are not being met in their current placement and that there could be some underlying SEND. This is why it is important that they are formally recorded.
What happens with a fixed term exclusion
Your child is not allowed to attend their school for a set number of days. The school will inform you of this normally by letter or email.
A pupil may be excluded up to a maximum of 45 days within a school year. After that, they may be permanently excluded.
During the first five days of exclusion, your child should not be seen in a public place during school hours. It is your responsibility to arrange childcare or supervision.
If the exclusion is for more than five days, then the governing body is responsible for providing some alternative education until your child is allowed to return to school.
If your child has an EHCP, the governing body must speak to you about any proposed new placement. It might be that the EHCP will need to be reviewed.
At the end of the exclusion a re-integration meeting may be offered to discuss how to avoid exclusion happening again. Your child can then return to school.
What happens with a permanent exclusion
Your child is not allowed to return to their school or setting.
It should only be used as a last resort when there has been either:
-
a serious incident
-
repeated breaches of the schools behaviour policy
-
a risk to the education or welfare of other pupils
During the first five days of exclusion, your child should not be seen in a public place during school hours. It is your responsibility to arrange childcare or supervision.
If they are of compulsory school age, the local authority has a duty to find them alternative education from the sixth day of the exclusion.
If your child has an EHCP, the local authority must speak to you about the new proposed placement.
What if I disagree with an exclusion
If you disagree with either a fixed period or a permanent exclusion, you can 'make representations', which means attending a meeting to give your views about it to the governing body of the school or setting.
Exclusions must be upheld by the governing body of the excluding school or setting. This means that they will review information about what has led to the decision to exclude and then choose to agree with it (uphold) or disagree with it (over turn).
If they disagree with the decision, then your child can return to their school and the exclusion will be removed from their record.
If they uphold the decision, then the exclusion will take place. You could then ask for the decision to be reviewed by an Independent Review Panel (IRP).
The IRP do not have the power to overturn an exclusion. They can help by instructing the governing body to review their decision.
Parents are allowed to request the presence of a SEND expert (such as an educational psychologist or specialist) at an IRP to provide support and advice. Your child does not need to be on the school SEND register or have an EHCP. They will not diagnose your child but may be able to provide advice about how their SEND may be affecting their behaviour in school.
If the governing body do not over-turn a permanent exclusion after reviewing it again, they will be asked to pay an additional £4,000 above the cost of permanently excluding a pupil to the local authority.
If you feel that the exclusion could be related to disability discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 , then you could instead make a claim to the first tier tribunal, who do have the power to overturn the exclusion and re-instate a pupil
IPSEA have more information in their website about how to get help dealing with disability discrimination.
What can I do
You could ask for a meeting with the school to discuss your concerns. We can help you to prepare for a school meeting.
If you feel that your child's SEND maybe contributing to any behaviour that they are being excluded for, then you could consider whether an EHC needs assessments would be helpful.
If your child already has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), it may need to be reviewed. For example, it may be that your child has developed additional needs that are not covered by the existing plan. We can help you to prepare for a review.
Disclaimer
Whilst we hope that you find these resources helpful, the information in this section is not endorsed by Leicestershire SENDIASS and we're not responsible for the content of sites or services offered by third parties.