Supporting families and children with special educational needs and school attendance
By Dominique Wicks, SEN Lead at School-Home Support
 |
Dominique is the SEN Lead at School-Home Support. Her role is to support all practitioners with SEN expertise and deliver SEN training across the organisation. Dominique oversees School-Home Support’s SEN specialist practitioners and liaises with the schools where they are based.
With 17 years experience of the SEN sector, Dominique has worked across education, social care, playwork and family support with children and families with various SEN needs. She is passionate about advocating for meaningful inclusion and the rights of children ensuring that their voices are heard. Dominique is also the vice chair of governors within a primary school. |
Children with special educational needs often face additional barriers to consistent school attendance. Low school attendance is a symptom of a system which hasn’t been funded to keep pace with demand for support – and this is particularly the case for special educational needs services in and around schools.
At a time when school attendance is a worrying and persistent problem for the education system, children with special educational needs (SEN) have higher rates of absence than their peers. Latest Government data revealed that the rate of persistent absence for children with an education, health and care plan (EHCP) in place was 35.5%, which is more than twice that of children with no identified special education needs at 16.8%. The scale of ‘Lost Learning’ through absence for children with special education needs is both staggering and unjust.
How special educational needs impact school attendance
According to parents and teachers interviewed in an article in The Guardian, special educational needs provision in England is unable to meet the demand for specialist support. Without specialised support, children with special educational needs are at an increased risk of being absent from school.
Often, children with special educational needs and their families can feel extremely isolated, vulnerable and lost. These challenges can arise from systemic delays in implementing support, limited school resources, and broader family circumstances. Understanding these barriers is essential to address the root causes of absence and provide the right support for the whole family.
Families are often facing multiple complex issues, with unmet special educational needs just one part of the picture. Issues such as poverty, poor housing and emotional and mental health challenges can also be major barriers to school attendance and exacerbate the impacts of low school attendance for children with special educational needs and their families.
A whole family support approach to address special educational needs and low school attendance
A support-first, family-centred approach to tackling absence is vital to ensure all barriers to learning and engagement at school are addressed. At School-Home Support, we are campaigning for a whole family support model and approach delivered by practitioners based in schools. This approach, as implemented through our bespoke practitioner service, is tailored to meet the individual needs of children, their families and the school or setting they are in. While the special educational needs support provided by School-Home Support practitioners is varied and tailored to the needs of the child, our focus on the whole family remains key. Data from our 2023/2024 Impact Report reveals that support with special educational needs was one of the top three areas of support provided to parents and carers in the last year.
In delivering this approach, our key aims are to provide support, advocacy and increased knowledge of the SEND system. School-Home Support practitioners provide one-to-one support for children and/or their parents and carers, deliver peer-to-peer support groups, share resources, and develop relationships with local professionals to share best practice strategies and facilitate referrals to specialist services.
Tailored interventions that bridge the gap between families and schools work well to ensure that children with special educational needs receive the support they need to improve their school attendance, wellbeing and educational outcomes. We provide both short term and long term intensive interventions because we recognise, especially with SEND cases, that change doesn’t happen overnight.
We also cannot underestimate the importance, impact and benefit of having a whole family support practitioner walking alongside a child and their family as they navigate the challenges they are facing. When waiting a long time for a diagnosis or for an EHCP to be put in place, having a supportive hand to hold them through this process can make all the difference for a family’s wellbeing.
Looking beyond the classroom, we also support families with broader issues that have a significant impact on attendance and quality of life for many families – such as financial worries or housing challenges. Through a whole family support approach, we build a picture of the challenges at home and implement the support needed to address them.
How we work with schools to address gaps in support for special educational needs and attendance
Schools are often stretched thin when it comes to providing special educational needs support. They are working hard to support pupils with SEND despite underfunding and a lack of resources. That’s where School-Home Support practitioners come in. They are professionals who have the time and resources needed to provide holistic support for the whole family whilst they navigate the complexities of the SEND system. With this additional resource in place, schools can focus on providing academic support.
Our family support practitioners work across mainstream and special schools and within the alternative provision and outreach education community. Their work predominantly starts with attendance as the primary referral reason, however casework often reveals that unmet special educational needs are a cause of attendance issues.
Our remit is to rebuild the bridge between home and school, and ensure families stay connected with the school community with access to the right support for them. We work closely with school teams to enhance their support by strengthening links with families, empowering parents and carers by ensuring information is understood and that children and families can have their voices heard in the often complicated SEND system.
Additionally, we provide training for school staff with attendance responsibilities through our Attendance Support and Development Programme. Our Attendance Foundations Course includes a dedicated module on how to support families, children and schools with special educational needs providing practical strategies and an overview of the legal framework.
Our impact for children with special educational needs
28% of the children and young people we support through our bespoke practitioner service have an education, health and care plan (EHCP), are receiving SEN support, or are waiting for a diagnosis. While supporting children and their families to navigate the SEND system, our data shows significant progress is made in behaviour, confidence and self esteem and engagement in learning.
Source: School-Home Support, 2025, ‘School-Home Support Data Portal for September 2024 – March 2025’
