reduce pupil – As emotionally based school non-attendance pushes schools toward safeguarding, SEND and curriculum access problems at once, educators are calling for earlier, inclusion-focused reintegration support. A London-based support model working with schools and local
The first leadership choice, one London secondary school veteran says, shouldn’t be “how do we get this child to comply?” It should be: what makes school feel impossible.
For pupils experiencing Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance—EBSNA—absence often isn’t defiance. It’s distress. In a challenge that schools and local authorities say rarely has a single cause and even more rarely has a quick fix. attendance data. safeguarding concerns. curriculum access. parental communication. SEND needs and limited capacity can all collide at once.
In the 25 years he spent working in London secondary schools. Ross Morrison McGill says he met many pupils whose absence reflected overwhelming pressure rather than a refusal to learn. McGill founded TeacherToolkit in 2007 and has been widely recognised as a leading education influencer in the UK and across the world. In 2015, he was named among The Sunday Times/Debrett’s 500 Most Influential People in Britain for his impact on education.
His warning comes with a simple premise: when a child is too anxious to attend school but still has a right to learn, schools need support that treats EBSNA as a reintegration challenge—not just an attendance problem.
The Department for Education has recently set out further SEND reform plans. with a renewed emphasis on earlier support. inclusion. and helping schools meet a wider range of pupil needs. Bridget Phillipson has also spoken publicly about the importance of getting inclusion right for children with SEND.
Against that backdrop. Young Giants Education—working with schools and local authorities—promotes reintegration solutions designed for children and young people with SEND and complex needs. Its approach includes EBSNA Link Workers and Embedded AP, focusing on family collaboration, re-engagement, inclusion and reintegration back into school.
The model, as presented, is designed for pupils who may have already experienced disrupted education, low attendance, unmet needs or difficulty engaging with previous support. Young Giants says it never refuses a referral, no matter how complex the case may be.
Its aim is described as helping pupils rebuild trust, confidence, routine and learning habits—because that is what many families and school teams struggle to restore once a child’s anxiety has closed the door on attendance.
One feedback message shared from a social worker operating in a London borough captures how quickly a reintegration effort can start to show up in school days. “It is money well spent; Mia has attended more school in the last two months than she has in the last two years. Thanks to all of you!”
For school leaders and SENCOs, the argument is not only about raising attendance figures. It is also about finding a partner that understands SEND inclusion, the barriers that stop attendance, and the need to work carefully with parents, schools and local authorities.
School budgets and procurement questions sit close to the surface in any conversation about new provision. The proposal acknowledges that schools will rightly ask about costs, existing providers, and whether a new service can be trusted. But the core pressure for leaders is time: where a pupil is missing education—or where reintegration feels stuck—doing nothing can also carry a cost.
In one place, the same pressure that shows up in attendance records also shows up in day-to-day delivery. Schools say EBSNA doesn’t just affect timetables. It can strain safeguarding workflows. stall curriculum access. complicate SEND audits and inclusion planning. and intensify the challenge of early intervention for pupils drifting toward disengagement.
The sequence is tight: EBSNA increases anxiety and makes attendance feel impossible; then every attempt to manage it collides with other duties. from inclusion planning to safeguarding and communication with families. That’s why Young Giants’ pitch centres on specialist time and relationship-building—support that starts with reintegration and keeps the child connected to education while schools regain traction.
Young Giants Education says it works exclusively with schools and local authorities to support pupils with SEND, EBSNA and complex attendance needs through specialist interventions and alternative provision.
The push now, as schools look to reduce EBSNA and improve SEND inclusion, is for support that comes early, treats anxiety as the barrier it is, and helps children return to learning without treating their distress as a failure.
EBSNA emotionally based school non-attendance SEND reform school attendance reintegration SENCO alternative provision inclusion safeguarding embedded AP EBSNA Link Workers persistent absence post-pandemic
So basically they want schools to just handle anxiety better? Hard when everyone’s understaffed.
EBSNA crisis… sounds like they’re blaming parents again. Like the kid is “distressed” but also not showing up, so how is that not just truancy? I dunno, these reforms never fix anything.
Wait, is this about London schools? Because in my area it’s always “safeguarding” and “SEND” and then nothing changes. They say inclusion support strains, but also say earlier reintegration—so who exactly is paying for it? Teachers already have 30 kids and now add all that?
They should be like… first question shouldn’t be compliance?? Okay but if a kid won’t come, what happens with the curriculum access part, do they just get extra worksheets at home? Also the article mentions parental communication and limited capacity, which sounds like “we can’t do it because nobody has time.” I read somewhere it’s mostly mental health stuff, but then it’s like safeguarding too, so it’s mixed.