September is a time of new beginnings and fresh starts. For many children and young people that means going back to school and into the classroom to begin the next chapter of their learning journeys.
But what about those pupils whose anxiety, neurodiversity or other SEND or social, emotional or mental health needs make a return to physical school seem impossible?
Persistent absence
The latest Department for Education figures show that one in five pupils are now persistently absent, meaning they miss at least 10% of sessions. In many cases, 10% is the tip of the iceberg, with a rise in so-called ‘ghost children’ seemingly disappearing from classrooms altogether.
But as we’re seeing in our rapidly growing TCES National Online School, behind every so-called ‘ghost child’ there are often families and professionals looking desperately for solutions.
Online solutions
One such child is ‘A’, who back in September had no school placement for Year 11 and had been out of school for an extended period due to anxiety, autism and ADHD. No other school could meet their needs and ‘A’ reluctantly agreed to try online education for their exam year with TCES.
As with our pupil Alicia (pictured) the year before, ‘A’ has just celebrated a clutch of excellent GCSEs and is now off to mainstream college.
Another example is Makkers, whose parents shared the following within a few weeks of him joining TCES National Online School: ‘Makkers has come back to life over the last couple of weeks, he is eating better, his pains have gone away, he is playing and laughing more. My son has come back. You have been absolutely brilliant.’
Therapeutic approach
As a social enterprise, we’re committed to sharing our learning with the education, health and social care sectors as a whole.
Our free webinar series offers tailored sessions for professionals and families alike, where we share our National Online School experiences. We reference the latest research and offer practical solutions around emotionally based school avoidance.
We also offer virtual open days for those who want to know more about our therapeutic online education provision for 5- to 25-year-olds.
We believe that every child or young person deserves to get back to school in September. If that can’t be in a physical classroom right now, we believe the onus is on all of us who care about inclusion to find another way.
Find out more: https://www.tcesnationalonlineschool.org.uk/
