02/09/2025
Food for thought 💜
For the bravest children that you will never meet in the playground….
While everyone celebrates their kids heading back to school, sharing pictures of their first week (which is lovely to see), this week I’m holding space for the THOUSANDS of children and teens who can’t walk through those doors.
Let’s hold space this week for…
•The child who can’t attend because anxiety twists their stomach and makes them feel sick, manifesting physically and mentally through panic attacks, insomnia, and sheer dread of school.
•The child overwhelmed by sensory overload, the every bell, shout, crowded corridor, and bright light sending their body into fight or flight
•The child screaming at the school gate, arms clinging to their parent, terrified and desperate to stay home
•The child stuck in limbo with an inappropriate school in their EHCP, waiting over a year while appeals drag on.
•The child desperate to be in school but kept home by unknown SEN/EBSA, longing to be with friends
•The child permanently excluded for behaviours that were really signs of unmet need, punished for being themselves.
•The child waiting years for an assessment before school will acknowledge their needs (unlawful).
•The child masking all day, only to collapse into meltdowns when they get home.
•To the teens longing for connection and learning, blocked by invisible barriers they can’t quiteexplain.
•To the teens left without any school, simply because no setting can support them properly.
•To the Teens with severely low attendance due to poor mental health, navigating pain no one can see.
•To the parents/ carers who have lost jobs, giving everything to support their children through this
•To the parents and carers who turned to home education, feeling it was the only way to protect their child and prevent them from being penalised.
•To the Parents accused of “mollycoddling” for protecting the one they love.
These persistently absent children and teens are also incredibly brave and they are deserving of everything! I’ve witnessed this both professionally, and with my own child.
Bridget Phillipson, regarding your attendance comments, perhaps try sitting with the parents living this reality before you dare to pass judgment!
Leigh
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