Yesterday Worcestershire Parent Carer Forum (WPCF) brought together Worcestershire County Council’s Education Engagement Manager Michele Fowler, responsible for attendance and children missing education, along with SEND Support Team Manager Vicky Jarrad. They met online with 10 Worcestershire parent carers who had volunteered to share their SEND families’ experiences of the attendance challenges they faced.
This meeting came about from pressure WPCF has been applying to WCC Directors since the introduction of new Government attendance legislation in August 2024 that vilifies, fines and ultimately criminalises SEND families when their children struggle to attend school.
In a previous article from June 2024, WPCF highlighted that the approaching ‘Perfect Storm’ where SEND children were being systematically failed by 3+ year waits for an autism diagnosis and for those with an autism diagnosis, being blocked from accessing CAMHS’ mental health service due to their autism. Since that article, WPCF regularly hear from parent carers who report increasingly aggressive approaches from their children’s schools as their attendance deteriorates due to severely unmet needs.
Our recent parent carer forum meeting revealed stark, consistent challenges facing families with children who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Key Themes included:
- Widespread school attendance difficulties for autistic and anxious children
- Lack of understanding from mainstream educational settings about individual needs and failures to make reasonable adjustments
- No or very limited mental health support with very short-term interventions that don’t allow autistic children to develop a trusted relationship
- Ineffective communication between schools, local authorities, and families
- Extensive gaps in interim educational provision when a child is out of school
Common Experiences: Parents shared heartbreaking stories of children:
- Experiencing severe anxiety, unsupported sensory differences and hitting autistic burnout
- Being unable to attend school full-time due to unmet needs
- Forced part-time timetables due to EHCP funded 1:1 support staff being deployed elsewhere in school
- ‘Unelective’ home education being the final resort and only option for some families
- Insufficient planning and support during key school transitions
- Experiencing mental health crises, suicidal ideation but being blocked from CAMHS due to having an autism diagnosis
- Parents raising early concerns about their child and their attendance, only to be gaslit by school or health professionals
Critical Areas Needing Improvement:
- Genuine co-production of support solutions for autistic children and young people experiencing emotional based school avoidance (EBSA).
- Comprehensive interim education provision that parent can easily initiate via the Local Offer, rather than waiting for school to escalate.
- Early intervention strategies – when parents raise early concerns with school, they should be taken seriously and a package of support coproduced with the family.
- Robust and mental health support for autistic children & young people by appropriately trained professionals.
- Transparent non-attendance tracking across all education establishments that triggers support, not parental blame.
The local authority has committed to working collaboratively with Worcestershire Parent Carer Forum to address these systemic challenges. Our collective voice is powerful, and change is possible. Our next attendance meeting is scheduled for early July and will be chaired by the Assistant Director Education, Early Years, Inclusion and Pupil Place Planning, Sarah Wilkins.
