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London's Unseen Children

Capturing the family experiences where pupils have difficulty attending school

The purpose of this project is to capture qualitative data to inform commissioning and approaches to support children and young people who are struggling with school attendance. This including EBSA and those who are temporarily or permanently not attending a school or college (Exclusions, Medical Needs, EOTISC/NEET or Elective Home education). It is also to help develop a better picture of the ripple effects of school non-attendance on family life. Again, this is with an aim to promote understanding for those commissioning services and designing policy to better support families
Please only complete what you are comfortable sharing publicly. We will produce a report using the survey and case study data and will present this in a thematic way e.g How many families from X borough, the effect on work
Please do not share names of schools or professionals in this survey.
Privacy and confidentiality statement
Your responses will be treated confidentially.
Survey responses will be analysed and reported anonymously. No individuals or families will be identifiable in any reports or presentations.
Anonymised data may be shared with partner organisations supporting this research (including data and insight partners Mime Consulting - company number 6306298), for the sole purpose of analysis and reporting.
We will not share identifiable information outside the research team without your explicit consent.
Please read and confirm the following statements before beginning the survey.
1.I confirm that I am over 18 and am a parent, carer or guardian of a child or young person with experience of disrupted education(Required.)
2.I understand the purpose of this research and how my data will be used(Required.)
3.I understand that my responses will be anonymised in reports.(Required.)
4.I consent to my anonymised data being shared with partner organisations, including Mime, for analysis and reporting purposes.(Required.)
5.Would you be interested in participating in a case study?
6.Which London Borough do you live in?(Required.)
7.What is the current age of the child or young person this response relates to? (Please note that if you want to respond on behalf of more than one child or young person you can complete this survey again).(Required.)
8.How would you describe your child or young person’s needs, interests, strengths and difficulties?
For questions 8 to 14, thinking about the most recent time your child/young person's attendance difficulties were at their height, please tell us about the timeline leading up to this (and use the text boxes to tell us more if you can).
9.I first became aware that my child was struggling.(Required.)
10.I raised concerns and asked for help.(Required.)
11.My child started to not want to go to school and/or find it difficult to attend school.(Required.)
12.My child's attendance difficulties escalated.(Required.)
13.My child was unable to attend school at all.(Required.)
14.My child was excluded from school. Please tell us if this was a fixed term (suspension) or permanent exclusion.(Required.)
15.Something important we haven't listed here.(Required.)
16.Please tell us if there was a trigger incident. Tick all that apply and tell us more if you can.(Required.)
17.At the time of your CYPs most recent attendance difficulties, who did you ask for help and what was the outcome?(Required.)
Could not access/on a waiting list
Chose not to access
We didn't know about this
Accessed and it helped
Accessed and it didn't help
EHCP Process
Social Care /Short breaks
Early Help (Portage, SEN Support in School) - please specify in comments box
Educational Psychologist
SENCO Support
GP/Primary Care
Alternative Provision
Mentor or Support Worker
Tuition Services
Online Schooling
Diagnostics
18.Please tell us about your experience of accessing mental health services for your child or young person.(Required.)
Unable to access
On a waiting list
Chose not to access
Was unaware of this support
Young Person unable to engage with services
Accessed prior to difficulties - helped for a time
Accessed after difficulties began - helped for a time
Accessed - no help
Accessed - too late to help
CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service)
School Mental Health team
Keyworker or Dynamic Support Register
19.Were you ever fined for your child's non-attendance?(Required.)
20.Has your child or young person ever had a 'honeymoon period' where things seemed to get better just before their difficulties escalated? If so please tell us about this.(Required.)
21.How would you describe your child's current circumstances. Please include their physical and mental wellbeing, relationships with family and friends, access to education and participation in activities outside of the home.(Required.)
22.Please could you tell us the current education status of the child or young person that this response relates to?(Required.)
23.What could have been approached differently by your child's school, health, care or other support services to achieve a better outcome for your child?(Required.)
24.Is there anything you wish that you had done differently?(Required.)
25.What are your current aspirations for your child? How do they differ from your aspirations before they were unable to attend school?(Required.)
26.Where known, what are your young person's current aspirations? How do they differ from their aspirations before they were unable to attend school?(Required.)
27.What support do you think they need from the following services, either now or in the future to enable them to achieve those aspiration?(Required.)
Now
In the next 12 months
In the future
N/A
Education or training
Health and wellbeing
Social Care
Family and friends
Mentor or support worker
Something important that we haven't listed here
28.Please tell us about the impact this has had on your wider family. Please include anything you feel able to share around your own mental health, relationships, social life, work, travel, childcare, sibling relationships, financial impact(Required.)
29.How old was your child when they first showed signs of distress relating to school attendance?(Required.)
The following questions help us to ensure that we're reaching parent carers with a variety of experiences and backgrounds. These questions are optional, and you do not have to answer them if you aren't comfortable doing so.
30.How would you describe your ethnicity?
31.How would you describe your financial circumstances
32.How would you describe your family make up (e.g. blended family, lone parent with 2 children)?