I'm increasingly tired of LAs who think they are legally permitted to delay urgent provision with bureaucracy - e.g. LA demanding recommendations from 2 different panels that each sit only once a month before it will think about s19 education for child unable to attend school.

With Sure Start children's centres in the news this week, here's a blog about how things have changed in education over the last 25 years.

'Reflections on a Changed Place'

stevebheadteacher.wordpress.com/2024/04/10/edu…

This should be displayed at the front door entrance of every school.🧠🌱

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It's not often you find an ally in the Express, but take a look at this disgraceful story. Also - 116,652 fines issued so far this year, and we're only a quarter of the way through. last year there were 296,000 for the whole year tinyurl.com/2ptvbp77.

📢Take part in this research to help understand factors involved in being #AbsentFromSchool in #NorthEastEngland . We need to hear from #SecondarySchoolPupils , their parent/carers and #EducationStaff supporting them. Click the link for further info nupsych.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8e…📢

“In their current form, [schools] are no place for an autistic young person. Being in a building alongside 1000 or more others is, without hyperbole, a prolonged nightmare to be dreaded.” An autistic former teacher opines.

heraldscotland.com/opinion/242339… #Neurodiversity #autism

What's a way to destroy trust between a family & school for children who can't attend due to issues with the school environment?

Attendance letters & fines.

There are children who will not attend until something changes with the school environment.

Threats are not the answer.

I am so angry with the current debate around over-diagnosing ADHD in particular.

A thread 🧵…

#autism #adhd

In the challenging landscape of this pandemic era, more young people than ever are struggling.

We could focus all our efforts on getting to the heart of the complex issues behind school absence...or we could just go with fear and criminalisation.

Shameful and unethical.

Hello everyone, I've expanded my criteria so if you're the parent/carer of a child with any identified SEND (on the SEN register and/or with an EHCP) and you think they might be interested in taking part in a virtual interview with me please get in touch on [email protected] 😊

Anxiety and Part-time Timetables - A Thread

When children are unwell and struggling to attend school due to anxiety, one of the approaches often taken is to put them on a part-time timetable. This might, for example, be as part of an EBSA pathway or within a Pastoral Plan.

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1/ 1000s of CYP show unbelievable resilience in the face of huge challenges to make it in less than 90%. How does placing them in a RED zone & assigning a label of SEVERE RISK help? It is also scientifically illiterate to simplistically link 'attendance' with 'attainment'.

Here I am again, demonstrating my ‘casual attitude to school attendance’ by sitting here shaking and crying out of helplessness and frustration.

Do people really think most parents are just shrugging their shoulders and telling their child ‘Whatevs love, stay home if you want’?

Dame Sa 🐝 3.5% Janet Cllr Oliver Patrick 🔶 🇬🇧 🍏 🕊 & it's not part of GP contracts to write sick notes for kids (they're called Fit for WORK notes) so busy GPs either refuse or charge it as private work (~£25/letter). Meanwhile Department for Education says schls shld believe parents unless they have v good cause not to. Not Fine in School

RADICALLY REWRITING THE 'EMOTIONALLY BASED SCHOOL AVOIDANCE' GUIDANCE WEBINAR

Link: eventbrite.co.uk/e/emotionally-…

It is almost universally recognised that the current guidance for supporting young people who are struggling to attend school does not work for many.

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Wow, I didn't expect this. BBC coverage of our Hackney report on EBSA/School Distress Hackney Council Sophie Conway (she/her) after the council hearing. Any other parent carer groups interested in doing the same in their borough? National Network bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…

There is always Another Way.

For 5yrs we’ve been raising exponential rise in suspensions pre-2020 & links w SEND, MH, exclusions, truancy and persistent absence. These are the same kids, our kids.

What has happened in our schools under behaviourist ideology has harmed & failed a generation. Shadow has cast.

The FFT Education Datalab data also reminds us that absenteeism and poor attainment is caused not by feckless parents, but by inequity, disadvantage, and lack of inclusivity in our ed system and beyond. How much more evidence does a govt need? tinyurl.com/bdepj7m2