No school will achieve 100% attendance. An increasing number of children are unwilling or unable to attend school full time and we all know it.

If a draconian approach to the challenges of this - or the SEND/CAMHS pipeline - is working for your school and the young people you serve, then you don’t need me.

But if you’re interested in fostering a whole school culture of positive mental health, understanding the attendance barriers unique to each child and, in line with schools' statutory responsibilities on attendance from September 2023, exploring flexibilities that take the pressure off all involved, then I can help.

If your school has large numbers of children persistently absent, I will:

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• Coach children and collaborate with parents to unpick and feedback the complex reasons for non-attendance

• Open up impartial and non-judgemental channels of communication between families and schools to strengthen relationships and increase the likelihood of positive change

• Work with key staff members to find realistic ways to meet the needs of individual children

• Disrupt the negative cycles of blame and shame that can lead to hardened positions on attendance and stop positive progress

• Devise flexi-schooling policies for your school to support the needs of children struggling to attend school full time and improve attendance figures

• Contribute to the development of trauma informed mental health, wellbeing and EBSNA policies