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Working together to improve school attendance - July 2026

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Working together to improve school attendance - July 2026

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How to use the Planning for Change document

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How to use the Planning for Change document

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This short webinar goes through what the Planning for Change document is and how to use it alongside the guidance document with students and families.

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Manchester Parent Carer Forum (MPCF) is funded by the Department for Education and works in partnership with the Manchester City Council as well as Health and Education settings to shape and influence services, and to ensure they are fit for purpose and meet the needs of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities and their families living in Manchester.

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This festive season, we are again looking to develop a virtual card app on our website, which people can use to send free virtual Christmas cards created by the SEND community to family and friends. Can

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Helping Shape and Develop Services Available to Children Manchester Parent Carer Forum works to represent the 'voice' of parents and carers of children and young people aged 0-25 with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). We are a group of volunteer parents and carers.

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Updated (KS2-3) Planning for Change document

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Updated (KS2-3) Planning for Change document

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Helps schools and parents/carers to identify barriers to attending school and possible solutions.

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This version of the Planning for Change document does not include graphics, and refers to school/college, so is more suitable to children aged 14 plus.

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Post-14 PLAIN VERSION - Planning for change - July 25 (3)

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Manchester Inclusive Alternative Provision Strategy - Directory of Providers

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Manchester Inclusive Alternative Provision Strategy - Directory of Providers

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What are Emotional Barriers to School Attendance (EBSA)?

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What are Emotional Barriers to School Attendance (EBSA)?

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EBSA describes difficulties attending lessons or school due to significant emotional barriers. These are caused by a range of factors, including the school environment. EBSA happens when a child experiences a strong emotional reaction, typically anxiety, which creates significant barriers in attending lessons, school or college.

In the past the terms ‘School Refuser’ and ‘School Avoider’, have been used; these can be considered misleading as they may imply that the child has control over their difficulties.

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NAPEP Barriers to Engagement and Attendance

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Support for children and young people with extended non-attendance (Types of Education)

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Support for children and young people with extended non-attendance (Types of Education)

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A gradual admission timetable (sometimes called a part-time timetable) may help support a return to regular school attendance, but this should always be intended as temporary and not a long-term option. The length of time a student is on a gradual admission timetable will vary, but they should be reviewed every 2 to 4 weeks with adjustments made according to progress.

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2796 Enc 1 - Part-time Timetable Guidance for 2025-26 

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SENDIASS offer information, advice and support to children, young people and parents/carers about special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

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How must information, advice and support services be run to meet the minimum standards?

The kind of things we help with include:

Understanding legal processes, such as Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessments and plans; knowing what you need to do and critical timescales.

Practical tasks, such as dealing with paperwork, getting your child or young person referred for extra help (SEN support), asking for and EHC needs assessment, checking a draft EHC plan or contributing to reviews

Developing a good working relationship with staff at nursery, school or college, or with other professionals.

Considering your options, clarifying your priorities and making decisions.

Feeling listened to and prepared for meetings or reviews.

Understanding how to deal with exclusions, disagreements with professionals or how to move forward when things go wrong.

Signposting to additional sources of information, advice or support, groups and services.

We also provide:

Monthly drop-ins in our localities across the city

Free information events and courses which help you to find out more about SEND

Factsheets on various subjects related to SEND

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We offer: information, advice and support to children, young people and parents/carers about special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This includes health and social care where it is linked to education. We are a free, dedicated, confidential and impartial service based in Manchester. We are a statutory service.

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Advice on school attendance from Manchester City Council.

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Avoidable absence | School Attendance Information, Advice and Guidance for 2024-25 | Manchester City Council

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42nd Street support young people with their emotional well-being and mental health by offering a choice of effective, creative, young person-centred and rights-based approaches all completely free of charge.

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42nd Street’s vision is for inclusive, accessible mental health and wellbeing support and opportunities for all young people.

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Kooth offers children and young people free, safe and anonymous support.

https://www.kooth.com/

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A brief introduction to Kooth, the mental health and wellbeing platform designed for young people.

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Mind is a charity that provides a wealth of resources to support both children and adults with their mental health and wellbeing.

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We’re Mind, the mental health charity | Mind

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We're Mind, the mental health charity. We're here to make sure no one has to face a mental health problem alone.

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A group for parents/carers run by Manchester parents/carers. If you have a child with special educational needs and disabilties (SEND), The SPACE Group offers a supportive community.

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Autism/ND navigators support parents in finding support in Manchester. https://padlet.com/Thesocialcommunicationpathway/mcr-nd-needs-led-offer-scroll-to-the-right-to-find-out-more-575fste7i0ul5skd

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The Proud Trust provides support and resources for children and young people who are part of the LGBTQ+ community.

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Proud Connections Live Chat is here to provide online support for LGBT+ young people and the adults in their lives.
Are you LGBT+ or questioning your gender or sexuality and looking for someone to talk to? Are you supporting an LGBT+ young person and need information, advice or someone to chat to?
Chat to our youth workers on our Live Chat. Proud Connections Live Chat is available across the UK.

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Support for LGBT+ young people and the adults in their lives

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Proud Connections is The Proud Trust's bespoke one-to-one support for LGBT+ young people and the adults in their lives.

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Place2Be have created short videos and information about how to support your children with things that they may be finding difficult.

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Parenting Smart offers practical advice for parents and carers of children aged 5-11. All of our content is created by Place2Be's parenting experts. It's based on evidence and their experiences working with children, young people and their families.

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A padlet of resources to support with sleep.

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A padlet of resources providing OT advice.

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Social Communication Pathway (SCP) support

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Social Communication Pathway (SCP) support

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A padlet of resources which provides information on the Social Communication Pathway.

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Not Fine in School provide a range of support including peer-support for families, sharing advice, resources and take part in research to help raise awareness of related issues.

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Not Fine in School is a parent-led organisation empowering families & raising awareness of school attendance barriers (school refusal/ anxiety/ SEND/ bullying)

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Square Peg is an organisation that focuses on campaigning, collaborating and innovating ideas to support the school attendance crisis.

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Working together to better understand absence from school & find effective solutions to attendance barriers

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Special Needs Jungle creates easy to understand resources, articles and information for parents and carers of children with special needs, disabilities and health conditions to better enable them to navigate the special needs system.

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Special Needs Jungle provides parent-centred information, news, resources and informed opinion about SEN, disability, children’s health and SEN politics

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Barnardos Special Needs Service provides a range of services and advice to support children and their families with SEND.

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What are special educational needs and disabilities?

Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) refer to a large range of different conditions which may impact how easily children and young people perform at school, work or throughout society if they don't have the right support. This can include physical disabilities such as Down's Syndrome, conditions associated with neurodiversity like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism spectrum disorders.

For more information about SEND conditions you can explore the Mencap website.

To explore the legal rights of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities view the government website.

How does Barnardo's help SEND children?

Barnardo's offers a range of services to support SEND children and their families. You can find more information about types of services we offer below, or use the search function to find services in your local area.

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Find out about how Barnardo's support children, young people and their families who have additional needs.

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The WARMTH Framework focuses on 6 key areas to enable young people to feel safe, a sense of belonging and for their needs to be met; with increased engagement in learning and school attendance being a byproduct of this. The framework was developed as a result of the consultation and involvement of over 1,500 stakeholders.

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WARMTH Framework - Barriers to Education

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The WARMTH Framework: six key areas co-produced with 1,500+ stakeholders to build safety, belonging and support - leading to improved outcomes.

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One Education Multi Service Support for EBSA

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One Education Multi Service Support for EBSA

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Information about how our different teams work together around EBSA:

Educational psychology

School attendance and safeguarding

Creative psychotherapies in education

Speech and language therapy

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Expert, collaborative support for emotional barriers to school attendance (EBSA) and school refusal, including Educational Psychology, Safeguarding, Creative

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The guidance and planning for change documents can be downloaded from here.

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Emotional Barriers to School Attendance (EBSA)

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Gain access to free guidance and resources to support schools with emotional barriers to school attendance (EBSA).

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Top tips for supporting a return to school

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Top tips for supporting a return to school

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Our top tips for supporting a return to school

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The importance of regular school attendance | School Attendance Information, Advice and Guidance for 2024-25 | Manchester City Council

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Whole School and College Approach (WSCA) to Mental Health Padlet

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Whole School and College Approach (WSCA) to Mental Health Padlet

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Developed by our team of Educational Psychologists and colleagues within the Mental Health Support Teams, this padlet draws on psychological expertise combined with an in-depth understanding of school/college systems, policies, and procedures.

The padlet aims to bring together evidence-based resources to support educators to make meaningful whole school or college developments.

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Bringing together evidence-based tools, expert guidance, and easily accessible resources, this is your complete toolkit to transform mental health across your

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In relation to EBSA, Manchester Healthy Schools provide support completing a whole school audit, training and other support.

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Manchester Healthy Schools - Manchester Local Care Organisation

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Community NHS and adult social care services in Manchester

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This toolkit provides examples to help you communicate with parents and carers about school attendance.

Schools are dedicated to supporting strong attendance for children and young people so that they receive an excellent education. The benefits of being in school are numerous. However, the pandemic disrupted attendance habits, and schools are facing more challenges than ever in supporting children to be in school. Schools are working exceptionally hard in response to this challenge. This includes following the working together to improve school attendance guidance. We also know that many schools have allocated more of their staff time to improve attendance levels. Different factors are now influencing decision making for some parents, carers and pupils around whether a child or young person attends school. Starting to influence pupil, parent and carer behaviours is one part of tackling this very difficult issue.

We are committed to reducing absence in schools and recognise that this challenge cannot be met by schools alone - government and wider support services action is also needed. To support schools, we have commissioned research to understand changes in parent and carer attitudes to attendance since the pandemic.

We have based these examples on research from Thinks Insight and Strategy (Thinks).

The research provides insight into the types of school absence and family decision making related to this. You can use the insight to adapt your communications to make them more effective. The research can help schools to set high standards for attendance, ensuring children and young people miss as little school as possible. Consistent and open communication can play an important role in starting to influence behaviours.

You should tailor the examples and suggestions to the needs of your school and parents and carers. Tailoring may take a bit of extra time but will increase impact.

Ways to communicate with parents and carers about attendance

When reviewing your school attendance communication policies and messages, consider:

making sure communications on attendance are timely and regular - talk about emerging attendance patterns early

using the child's name with accurate data specific to them rather than generalising

framing absences in lessons missed - a key insight from the research was that percentages can be less clear when describing the impact of absence

that parents said new or surprising information resonated most with them

using the school attendance data tool to identify the number of sessions or days a child has missed and any patterns in their absences

adopting positive, future focused messaging which encourages parents and carers to consider the wider social benefits of school for the overall wellbeing of their child

highlighting the support benefits of school beyond academic benefits

naming and providing contact details of specific people in school who can help address attendance barriers

being careful about generalising when describing children and young people's feelings and experiences

balancing a firm, factual tone with empathy

avoiding unevidenced or unrealistic claims

providing clear reminders of your school's policy relating to absence and guidance such as:

engaging with other schools in your area or trust to ensure consistent messaging and approaches, particularly where children from the same family attend different schools

You could also consider whether it might be suitable to use different communication channels. For example, a phone call may be better for a parent or carer:

whose first language isn't English

who has a disability affecting their ability to engage with written communication

Some parents or carers may feel less prepared to challenge children when thinking about whether they should attend school. Consider messages that encourage parents and carers to explore whether there are any other factors influencing their child's absence.

Methods of communication

We expect schools to regularly inform parents and carers about their child's attendance and absence levels. Working together to improve school attendance includes more information on schools' responsibilities. Most schools already have in place an overall strategy for communicating with parents and carers on attendance. This should include setting expectations early (at the start of each school year), and regularly (during each term).

Sending accurate information about a child or young person's attendance to parents and carers is essential if attendance messages are to have an impact. The school attendance data tool can help you to identify:

the number of sessions and days a particular pupil has missed and any overall patterns in their absence days

families who may need attendance support

An effective whole school culture of high attendance is underpinned by clear expectations. As outlined in working together to improve school attendance, schools should have a clear, written school attendance policy. Being transparent about school attendance policies, including the trigger points for attendance communication will help ensure a consistent approach with parents and carers. Consider regularly sharing an accessible version of your attendance policy with parents and carers.

Messages that are inclusive and non-judgemental are important. Where there are families who are proving difficult to engage, you should consider any additional needs parents and carers could have. Try different methods of engagement to establish the most effective approach. You may achieve successful relationship building with parents and carers using a combination of methods. Make sure you choose the right person to deliver attendance communications. This is crucial to successfully engaging parents and carers.

Thinks' research showed that individualised messages to families often have the most impact. This is because they see the communication as relevant or applicable to them, in a way that general messages might not be.

Letters and emails

You will already regularly use this format to communicate messages to parents and carers. For example, to communicate important school dates. Good letters can play an important part in influencing parents and carers.

Thinks' research suggests that email is the most convenient and accessible means of communicating less urgent messages, for example more general messages about attendance. Families prefer letters for more serious or important information.

You could also add these messages to your school's website, perhaps as a newsletter. Adding a link to the webpage in messages to parents and carers will enable them to refer to previous messages.

You could also use letters and emails to signpost parents and carers to support services available within their local authority. This will provide them with a sense of wraparound support without it being individually targeted.

Social media may also provide useful and different communication opportunities to some but not all parents and carers.

Annex A includes adaptable example attendance letters and emails to parents and carers to save you time.

Text messages

Regular text messages to parents and carers are an effective communication strategy. A study with Bristol City Council found that messaging parents of children with attendance below 95% increased good attendance rates by 4 percentage points.

Thinks' research showed that parents prefer to receive text messages that are unique to their child. This helps them to prioritise reviewing or actioning anything within these messages. However, text messages will not always be the right way to communicate with parents and carers.

Consider checking your existing messages against our examples to strike the right balance in communicating with parents and carers. You can adapt these examples to suit the individual or smaller group issues.

You could consider sending text messages through online customer relationship management ( CRM) tools. Willows Academy has examples of using CRM tools to send messages to parents. Some CRM tools have pre-set options which allows you to send positive messages which are pupil specific. This form of messaging can help build relationships with families and acknowledge progress.

The Behavioural Insights Team have produced a guide on how schools can use text messages to clearly communicate pupils' attendance levels to parents. It includes examples of how to structure texts and some example text messages.

Example messages

"Your child has missed X number of lessons this year. Lessons build on what children already know and missing one may make tomorrow's lesson more difficult."

"Your child has missed X number of days of school this year."

"One day could be as many as seven missed lessons, as well as time spent with friends and doing extracurricular activities."

"You can support your child's physical, social and mental wellbeing by ensuring they are in school every day."

"We know that parents and carers worry about their children's mental health. Rather than keeping your child off school, let us know about your concerns. We can then work together on supporting your child."

"It can be difficult to know whether your child is too ill to attend school. NHS guidance is clear that it's fine to send them in with a minor cough or common cold, provided they don't have a temperature."

"School is an enriching environment that can help your child with their social and mental wellbeing."

"School isn't just about learning. It's a warm, supportive environment where your child can get a healthy meal and see their friends."

"School attendance is important for equipping your child with skills for life."

"Attending school every day can help your child to achieve their aspirations, and the aspirations you have for them."

"We are delighted to celebrate that [NAME] achieved 100% attendance last week. We thank you for your continued support to ensure [NAME] attends school every day."

"We have the same expectations as [neighbouring primary or secondary school]. This means you will hear the same messages for the other children in your family as we work closely on attendance as a local partnership of schools."

"We know your child has special educational needs and this can lead to them sometimes not finding school straightforward or as easy as they would like. We understand this and want to work with your child, and with you, on helping your child feel confident to explain any concerns. We can then work together to help provide reassurance and support."

Phone calls

Thinks' research showed that parents prefer phone calls for personal conversations about their child. In-depth conversations to discuss and support parents and carers in their individual circumstances can help to safeguard pupils and families. They provide the opportunity to signpost parents and carers to local authority support services.

Selecting the most appropriate member of staff to make calls to parents and carers is important. If calls are of a personal nature, the member of staff should know the child or young person well and ideally have a relationship with the family.

Phone calls can give parents and carers the opportunity to share more personal details about their circumstances. They can help them feel more supported by the school. This can help to ensure honest communication between a parent or carer and the school for the benefit of the child involved.

You can also use phone calls to highlight actions you can take. For example, fixed penalty notices for absence and enforcement action. Having these conversations over the phone can help parents and carers to understand the severity of potential next steps. They also provide the opportunity to offer more support from the school.

You may want to consider training or support for staff making these calls. It is possible some calls will be challenging. As staff will need to use consistent and sensitive messaging during these calls, training could help to achieve a positive outcome.

Face-to-face meetings

Many schools already use this format to communicate messages to parents or carers. This includes when there are sensitive or serious issues to discuss and understand.

You may also want to consider a face-to-face meeting when you see a pattern in your school's attendance data.

Consider using video calls where parents or carers may be unable to attend in person at short notice. This may help to:

develop your relationship with parents and carers

tackle attendance concerns early

Phone calls, video calls and face-to-face meetings all offer the opportunity for direct and personalised conversations with families. This is vital when establishing and removing barriers to attendance.

Sometimes it is also beneficial to include the child or young person in these conversations. This may help them to:

understand the importance of school attendance

build their confidence to engage with teachers when they are experiencing difficulties with attendance

About the research

Thinks recruited 47 parents of children aged 4 to 16 to take part in this research. This included parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities ( SEND) or on free school meals.

The research aimed to:

understand their views on school attendance and absences

understand their interpretation, understanding and engagement with proposed messages

identify attendance messages that:

resonate best for each type of absences (for example, low level illness, holidays)

are most effective in changing attitudes and motivating families to avoid unnecessary absences

most resonate with key parent or carer audiences (for example, parents of children with SEND, parents from disadvantage backgrounds)

Key findings about attendance communication

Parents expected to hear attendance messages from their child's school, ideally via email and school apps and portals.

Messages that do not consider specific circumstances have less impact on parents' attitudes or actions. Positive communication encouraging attendance may be more motivating and trustworthy.

Parents value clear guidance on mild illness to help them make decisions. The research indicated that some parents were not aware of NHS guidance such as Is my child too ill for school? Consistency of schools' behaviour in following this guidance is important to parents.

Key findings about parental values and judgements

The research showed that the participating parents:

did not see themselves as the type of parents who let their children miss school for unacceptable or frivolous reasons

felt that the values and information they use to make judgements about attendance have changed post pandemic

This means that your attendance messages may need to evolve. Consider how you can adapt your messages to reflect these changes.

Perceived ability to catch up on missed education

Parents report that they think their children are able to catch up on missed education effectively. This means they may consider small periods of absence from school manageable, without realising the possible wider negative impact.

Increased illness

Parents report that they worry that illness levels are higher. Parents also say that the pandemic has made them more wary about spreading illnesses. They are less likely to send their child to school when they are ill. It now feels less socially acceptable to do so.

Some parents feel confident that they know when their child is well enough to be in school. Others feel less confident since the pandemic.

Parents feel that schools have become more cautious about keeping a child in school. They perceive that a school is more likely to send a child home if they fall ill.

A more holistic view of children's wellbeing

Since the pandemic, parents are placing greater emphasis on their child's mental wellbeing. They have a greater awareness about the need to support children with these issues.

Some parents felt their children are still catching up on important life experiences they missed during the pandemic. For some parents, the pandemic helped to demonstrate the importance of achieving a balance between school and home life. It encouraged them to think about the importance of enriching activities such as time with family more than they might have done previously.

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Toolkit for schools: communicating with families to support attendance

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This toolkit provides examples to help you communicate with parents and carers about school attendance. Schools are dedicated to supporting strong attendance for children and young people so that they receive an excellent education. The benefits of being in school are numerous.

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The importance of Early Intervention

Early intervention is crucial when a young person begins to experience Emotional Barriers to School Attendance (EBSA). Spotting the signs and providing prompt support can prevent patterns of anxiety and avoidance from becoming entrenched, which often makes re-engagement with education significantly more challenging. This means schools working collaboratively with children and parents/carers once signs have been identified. Consider factors underpinning the anxiety and environmental stressors—and plan adjustments before the situation escalates. Delaying intervention risks increasing distress, and potentially leading to long-term academic and social consequences.

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The importance of maintaining a sense of belonging to school

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The importance of maintaining a sense of belonging to school

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The importance of maintaining a sense of belonging to school

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The importance of maintaining a sense of belonging to school

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A website which was developed so that everyone can gain a better understanding of what autism is.

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A website about autism, for autistic young people - so that everyone can gain a better understanding of what autism actually is.

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Eleanor Fricker is an author and illustrator who advocates for autism, PDA and learning.

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The Autism Education Trust have created a Sensory Audit for Schools and Classrooms to help staff assess and create an environment that enables the participation of pupils with sensory differences.

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Friendly and informal, Early Help Send Drop Ins are a great way to get good information and advice about special educational needs and disability (SEND) issues. There's lots of providers represented. This link shares the dates for 25/26.

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Friendly and informal, Early Help Send Drop Ins are a great way to get good information and advice about special educational needs and disability (SEND) issues. There's lots of providers represented -

Dates for 2025

10th September 2025, 10am-12pm- Lifestyle Centre, Wythenshaw

15th October 2025, 10am-12pm- PowerHouse , Moss Side
12th November 2025, 10am-12pm- Manchester Youth Zone, Harpurhey
10th December 2025, 10am-12pm- Lifestyle Centre, Wythenshaw

Dates for 2026

14th January 2026, 10am-12pm- PowerHouse, Moss Side

25th February 2026 10am-12pm Manchester College, Openshaw

18th March 2026 10am-12pm Manchester Youth Zone, Harpurhey

22nd April 2026 10am-12pm Lifestyle Centre, Wythenshaw

20th May 2026 10am-12pm PowerHouse, Moss Side

17th June 2026 10am-12pm Manchester Youth Zone, Harpurhey

15th July 2026 10am-12pm Lifestyle Centre, Wythenshaw

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Friendly and informal, Early Help Send Drop Ins are a great way to get good information and advice about special educational needs and disability (SEND) issues.

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'Working with Worry' Training - One Education

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'Working with Worry' Training - One Education

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2893 Enc 1 - Section 19 policy 2025 FINAL

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Referral forms should be emailed to section19@manchester.gov.uk

Schools are required to make all reasonable adjustments to support the child or young person within their current setting before considering a referral. The expectation is that referrals should only be made when all in-school options have been explored and evidenced, ensuring that external support is sought as a last resort rather than a first response.

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We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

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Manchester Hospital School provides a range of support under Section 19 of the Education Act 1996, including outreach. Their outreach team provides advice and guidance to schools in Manchester to enable them to support pupils with medical and mental health needs which are impacting on their ability to engage in education. To request advice and guidance, schools should complete the advice and guidance request form on the school's website.

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Our Manchester Hospital School outreach service provides advice and guidance to schools in Greater Manchester to enable them to support pupils with medical or mental health needs which are impacting on their ability to engage in education.

Our team can provide school staff with the following support:

Virtual or telephone consultations with a member of your school team to reflect on key barriers to school engagement and attendance and to explore next steps the school could take

Follow up virtual or telephone reviews to assess the impact of the advice provided and identify next steps

Guidance on how to follow the 'planning for change' process outlined in Manchester City Council's EBSA guidance

Signposting to other services

Advice for schools who wish to make a referral to the Section 19 panel, including how to complete the referral form

Advice for schools who have completed a referral to the Section 19 panel but the referral has not met the threshold

Information about AV1 robots and how these can be used to support pupils

We also present at local events and national conferences where we are asked to share our expert practice with colleagues from other schools and organisations. You can find out more information about this offer by clicking here: Bee Inspired.

Before making a referral to our Outreach team for advice and guidance, schools are encouraged to read the attached guidance to ensure they are clear about the expectations for schools when supporting pupils with medical or mental health needs.
This guidance provides information about the statutory and non-statutory expectations for schools who are supporting pupils with medical and mental health needs. It also includes useful strategies, links to resources and signposting to other organisations.
Please click here for Guidance for schools when supporting pupils with medical or mental health needs
If you would like to request advice, guidance and signposting, please complete the referral form here and email to adviceandguidance@hospitalschool.manchester.sch.uk

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Our Manchester Hospital School outreach service provides advice and guidance to schools in Greater Manchester to enable them to support pupils with medical or mental health needs which are impacting on their ability to engage in education.

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Leo Kelly School (Manchester Hospital School)

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Leo Kelly School (Manchester Hospital School)

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The Leo Kelly School is part of Manchester Hospital School and is a short-term educational provision for pupils who have been referred to the Section 19 panel by education and health professionals. A panel of education, health and council professionals review each referral to make a decision about whether a Section 19 placement will be offered and whether the Leo Kelly School would be suitable for that child. These students often have social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) as their primary area of need. The Leo Kelly School offers a range of pathways for children with various needs. Some pathways include a home-learning element and others are within the school building. The Leo Kelly School has 57 places in total.

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The Leo Kelly School is a secondary provision which offers short term educational provision to pupils who have been referred by a medical practitioner. Pupils are mostly from a mainstream background and have SEMH as their primary need. We are not a long term alternative to mainstream school or a long term specialist SEMH provision.

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AV1 robots - Manchester Hospital School 

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AV1 robots - Manchester Hospital School 

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Manchester Hospital School has created an information page offering guidance and advice on the use of AV1 robots.

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AV1 is a robot avatar that acts as a child’s eyes, ears and voice in the classroom when illness, disability or mental health conditions prevent them from being there in person.

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This Padlet provides an insight into understanding belonging, practical suggestions to support the feelings of belonging and resources.

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Manchester Inclusive Alternative Provision Strategy - Directory of Providers

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Manchester Inclusive Alternative Provision Strategy - Directory of Providers

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Checklist for professionals when supporting autistic students with extended non-attendance

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Checklist for professionals when supporting autistic students with extended non-attendance

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Getting advice

This means receiving info and guidance on what activities or services are available in your community - to help you manage your emotional wellbeing. This might be a particular sport that you have an interest in, a hobby or services that can help you with any general emotional issues you may be dealing with. We may also do some 1-1 work with you to show you how you can better manage your emotional health.

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Getting help

This means that you might need to be supported into more targeted interventions to help support any issues that you may be dealing with. These interventions will be short but effective in improving your emotional wellbeing.

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Getting risk support

This means that sometimes we will have to contact crisis services to keep you safe before you can get the right help.

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Getting more help

This means that we need to talk to other more specialised services - we can then discuss with them and yourself which type of help is the best for you, that cannot be given at our hubs.

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Close This means receiving info and guidance on what activities or services are available in your community - to help you manage your emotional wellbeing. This might be a particular sport that you have an interest in, a hobby or services that can help you with any general emotional issues you may be dealing with.

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This resource has been designed to inform and support school leaders and attendance teams in their work to increase pupil attendance.

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Build, communicate, and deliver an attendance strategy.

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Implementing strategies with impact:

lessons from over 70,000 pupils

on improving school absence (July 2024) Summary:

1.The start of the year is crucial

2.Sense of belonging

3.To build belonging, a focus on small communities, individual attention and specialist support can help

4.Schools can develop a sense of safety through close attention to their physical and social environment

5.A relational and targeted approach to intervention was particularly effective. Alongside whole-cohort policies and strategies

6.Seeing attendance as everyone’s job can help build a sense of action around absence.

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Great Manchester Attendance Action Alliance

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Great Manchester Attendance Action Alliance

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Arranging education for children who cannot attend school because of health needs

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Arranging education for children who cannot attend school because of health needs

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Providing remote education non statutory guidance for schools

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Providing remote education non statutory guidance for schools

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Support for pupils where a mental health issue is affecting attendance effective practice examples

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Support for pupils where a mental health issue is affecting attendance effective practice examples

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Summary table of responsibilities for school attendance

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Summary table of responsibilities for school attendance

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National Guidance for Educational Psychologists Supporting School Attendance

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National Guidance for Educational Psychologists Supporting School Attendance

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This guidance is written for educational psychologists by the National Association of Principal Educational Psychologists (NAPEP)

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National Guidance for Educational Psychologists Supporting School Attendance

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Summary of responsibilities where a mental health issue is affecting attendance

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Summary of responsibilities where a mental health issue is affecting attendance

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What has helped students to reintegrate into school?

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What has helped students to reintegrate into school?

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What has helped students to reintegrate into school - Table

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A guide for schools on communicating with parents about attendance

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A guide for schools on communicating with parents about attendance (accessible version)

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This guide supports schools to communicate effectively with parents and carers about attendance. It’s part of the wider Department for Education (DfE) attendance toolkit for schools.