Pupils missing school need more help - report

Hannah Conway, 11, is happier since being home educated, her mum says

Children need more support to get them into school full-time, as mental-health problems surge, a report says.

Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are among those currently being let down in England's schools, the report by children's commissioner Rachel de Souza says.

Concern has grown after an estimated 1.8 million children regularly missed school this autumn.

The government has said improving attendance is a top priority.

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Ms De Souza's report says reasons for missing school are often "highly individual and complex".

For some, it was daunting to return to school after long periods of studying at home during the pandemic.

And some parents felt they were not listened to about the needs of their children, especially those with SEND.

'Severe anxiety'

Amanda Conway took her daughter Hannah out of school because she felt she had too little support for her additional needs.

Hannah, 11, was born prematurely, which has led to delays to her development and school learning.

In Year 5, she was given an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) - for children who need extra help such as one-to-one support.

But she had still not been given the help she needed, Mrs Conway told BBC News.

And in Year 6, she began having "severe anxiety attacks" and started refusing to go to school for several days most weeks.

"Her anxiety got so bad she would be shaking and making herself physically sick," Mrs Conway said.

Some schools' "one size fits all" approach left children feeling broken by a system focused on academic achievement, she said.

Increasingly worried about how she would cope at a large secondary school, Hannah's parents decided to educate her at home instead.

Since then, her anxiety has lessened and she is able to enjoy learning.

In response to the growing mental-health issues among schoolchildren, Ms De Souza's report recommends every school in England has access to a support team - in contrast to current government plans for such teams to reach 35% of pupils by 2023.

Some schools and local authorities were dealing with "multiple suicide attempts per week", the report found.

The government said it had put £79m into speeding up the introduction of mental-health support teams for schools. And it has launched a review of support for children with SEND, which it says will lead to an ambitious set of changes.

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The children's commissioner sees September as a chance for a reset, "a new start, full of hopes and dreams" for pupils who want to be in school.

Schools should aim for 100% attendance on the first day of the autumn term, Ms De Souza told BBC News.

Other recommendations she made for reaching this level include:

• better support for young carers

• ensuring pupils who have been excluded have their needs fully assessed

The areas that had managed children's absences best were those that talked directly to children about their needs and adopted a "whatever it takes" attitude to getting them to attend school, Ms De Souza said.

The government said it was introducing a much more consistent approach to dealing with absence from school across England.