Children and young people miss school for a variety of reasons – as a response to personal, family, school or wider environmental issues. Emotionally Based School Avoidance or Refusal (EBSA) is a pattern of absence where reluctance, or refusal, to attend or stay in educational settings is rooted in anxiety or fear.

Risk factors vary, and it is important to understand the reasons for poor or non-attendance. This resource provides an overview of EBSA, useful assessments and key tools to help identify and support those young people who find school attendance a struggle owing to anxiety or fear.

Many children and young people – especially those with existing mental health issues have found the experience of lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic particularly stressful and increased levels of anxiety are widespread. As a result, the need to provide support for increased levels of anxiety will be ongoing.

This set of 3 includes:

• Understanding & Supporting Children & Young People with Emotionally based School Avoidance (EBSA)
  • Nasen Awards 2022 Shortlisted
  • A practical user-friendly toolkit of resources providing an overview of EBSA and strategies to support return to school, with a focus on transition from primary to secondary school.
  • This toolkit of resources will give confidence to anyone working with or looking after young people in understanding the basis for EBSA and will provide practical, helpful strategies that can be implemented by parents and school-based staff to support young people back into the learning environment.
• Understanding & Supporting Emotionally Based School Avoidance Discussion Cards
  • 60 user-friendly cards with practical ideas and strategies to promote and develop children’s attendance
  • These 60 cards provide a wealth of activities designed to support a child or young person in understanding their own feelings and worries about school attendance. They will help to develop a range of self-help skills. These include how to remain self-regulated, manage stress and anxiety, become more organised and access appropriate support.
• My Attendance Journal
  
  • Support children and young teens to develop tools and strategies to engage in or return to school
  • Use the activity of journalling to help students to maintain their well-being and build up the resilience needed to engage in or return to school in a healthy way, enabling them to feel safe, heard and supported.