SEND Parent & Carer Support

My child has SEND. What might help attendance?

Explore what is making school harder, what already helps your child, and what changes you could discuss with the SENCO or SENDCo.

This is not about asking whether SEND “excuses” absence. It is about understanding barriers, removing disadvantage where possible, and helping your child access school more successfully.

How this works

1Assess

What is difficult? What is your child experiencing?

2Plan

Which support or adjustments might be worth trying?

3Do

Agree a small number of changes and who will do what.

4Review

Check whether the changes are actually helping.

This mirrors the graduated approach used in the SEND Code of Practice: assess, plan, do and review.

Start with your child, not the absence

Child's first name or nickname (optional) Year group / age (optional)

What are your child's strengths? When does school tend to go well?

What may be making attendance harder?

Choose anything that may be relevant. You do not have to be certain.

Anything else?

When is it hardest?

Patterns can help identify where support is needed.

What does your child want adults to understand?

Use their own words where you can. They do not have to explain everything.

Child's words (optional)

What support or changes might be worth discussing?

These are conversation starters, not automatic entitlements or a fixed checklist.

Another idea you would like school to consider

What already helps?

Keeping successful support is often as important as introducing something new.

Tell us more about what works

Choose your first priorities

Aim for a small number of changes that can be tried and reviewed.

Priority 1 Priority 2 (optional) When should the plan be reviewed?

Parent / carer discussion document

Our SEND Attendance Support Plan

This is a starting point for a constructive discussion with the SENCO/SENDCo and other relevant staff.

Start with strengths

When school works better

Assess: barriers we would like to understand

Child's voice

Plan: support or adjustments to discuss

About reasonable adjustments: schools have duties under the Equality Act 2010 in relation to disabled pupils. Whether a particular adjustment is reasonable depends on the individual circumstances. This plan is designed to help begin that discussion.

Do: our first priorities

Review: how will we know if it is helping?

Child is finding arrival easier Distress before school is reducing Child can identify an adult who helps Child is recovering more easily after school Attendance / time in school is becoming more sustainable Family and school communication feels clearer

Questions for the SENCO / SENDCo

One-page summary to share with school

Important

This tool does not diagnose SEND, determine whether an Education, Health and Care Plan is needed, or decide which legal adjustments a school must make. It helps a family organise observations and prepare for a collaborative discussion.

If there are concerns about bullying, safeguarding, significant mental-health difficulties, medical needs or immediate safety, raise those directly with the school and relevant professionals.

Why this approach?

The SEND Code of Practice says that when a pupil is identified as having SEN, schools should take action to remove barriers to learning and use a graduated approach in which support is assessed, planned, put in place and reviewed.

Current statutory attendance guidance also expects schools to work with pupils and families to understand barriers to attendance and provide support, including where pupils are persistently or severely absent or at risk of becoming so.

Schools also have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled pupils under the Equality Act 2010.

SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years Working together to improve school attendance GOV.UK: reasonable adjustments in education Mental health and attendance guidance

This tool is designed for families in England. SEND arrangements differ in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.