Home schooling parents have warned neurodiverse children in Northern Ireland are being “failed by the education system”.
Heart-breaking real life experiences of children being at an emotional breaking point, comes as parents say they feel they have “no choice” but to educate their kids at home.
As worried parents deregister children from school awaiting autism and ADHD assessments the Education Authority this month is recording ’emotional based school avoidance’ for the first time.
Parents of three in the Newry area, who wished to remain anonymous spoke to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) this week on protecting sacrificing their mental health
The concerned mother said: “Kids can be told just go in for 10 minutes or one period, but to the child basically the school isn’t a safe place, for whatever reason…it’s like telling them to go into a burning building.
“I wouldn’t call what is going on with children to be school avoidance, because for us, it wasn’t a choice.
“Certainly our daughter just could not go, the anxiety levels, panic attacks…all of it. The words school avoidance makes it sound like these children are just trying to avoid school, but the kids want to go to school, they want to be like their friends, but they can’t and that again adds another layer of frustration for them.
“I think there are definitely lots of kids who are struggling with anxiety and with sensory issues. “A Lot to the kids, but not all, who are school refuse are neurodivergent, so they could be autistic, ADHD, combination of both or other. And those kids are being failed by the current education system.”
She added: “My children’s mental health had deteriorated so much and no matter what the school and we were trying together, it wasn’t working, so we had to take them out.
“Certainly it got to a stage with my daughter at about 15 years old going into 5th Year, that there was no other option. She had started school refusal from 1st Year and we had spent four years trying to get her to stay in.
“Our youngest child at the time (12) started refusing to go to school and it was so similar to our daughter, that we knew it wouldn’t be fair to put him through everything that our previous child had been put through, so we deregistered them quicker from school.
“We knew the steps that would be coming and we weren’t prepared to let them go though that. “So, we were able to have those conversations much quicker. It was a hope to get him help earlier so that his mental health would not perhaps not be affected so badly and that he could return for GCSEs and further. But, we don’t know yet.
“It is a struggle as you still have to pay all the bills, but we weren’t just willing to sacrifice his mental health the same way our daughter’s went.”
The father added: “We have been through the ringer, but it’s now a case of how the Hell do we prevent other families having to go through the same.
“What has been our guiding light in all of this for so long, is at least thank goodness we are able to homeschool our kids, because we know there are parents out there that just simply can’t.”
Early Intervention
Newry, Mourne and Down Alliance councillor Jill Truesdale, a former teacher of primary up to adult learning, has urged Stormont to progress “early intervention” on school anxiety.
She said: “Emotional based school anxiety is not a new issue for schools; it has been around for decades, but better recognition of the issue is growing.
“This issue, like so many others in education, requires a holistic response, the impact from lack of educational psychologists, waiting lists for assessments, the poverty strategy, possibly no one to advocate for a student, all impacts and may result in emotional based school anxiety.
“Governments tend to overuse the title, ‘early intervention’, as every educator knows this is what is needed, we need to see it happen.”
New Absence Code
The Education Authority has outlined the level of deregistered school children with 41 students through last year. So far this new school year, 23 children have been deregistered since September.
Deregistration can happen for a range of reasons and is not always linked to emotionally based school non-attendance.
A spokesperson for the Education Authority (EA) said:”For families considering home education because their child is experiencing school-based anxiety, we would encourage them to talk through the available support with their school and the EA before making any final decision.
“Where parents choose to educate their child at home, the EA has a role in ensuring children are receiving a suitable education and our Elective Home Education team can provide information and guidance to help families make the best arrangements for their child.”
With neurodivergence a key factor for many children experiencing school refusal with the Co Down parents criticising the long waiting lists for assessment .
However, the EA told the LDRS that its assessments were on a priority list rather than a waiting time list.
A spokesperson said: “The EA does not hold a single waiting time figure (for educational psychologist assessments), as demand and prioritisation can vary depending on individual needs, the area and the level of support required. Our Educational Psychology Service (EPS) works to prioritise the most urgent cases and all referrals are considered in line with assessed need.
“While operating within very challenging budget constraints we continue to invest in additional staff and strengthening the ways we engage with parents, carers and schools to help ensure children receive the right support at the earliest stage possible.
“We are firmly committed to continuing to improve services and are currently recruiting 16 specialist posts, five of which will be focused on supporting pupils experiencing emotional based school non-attendance and their families as part of a wider transformation programme.
“Until recently, there was no specific mechanism within the school information management system, used by schools in Northern Ireland, to record emotional based school non-attendance school avoidance.
“However, the DE has introduced a new absence code for emotional based school non-attendance from September 2025.
“This change will support schools in recording more consistently, allowing data to be collated more effectively going forward.”
New Strategy
The LDRS understands the Department of Education (DE) is now aiming to consult on a new attendance strategy within the coming weeks.
A DE spokesperson said: “Increasing pupil attendance at school is an on-going challenge and one that is not unique to Northern Ireland. We recognise that attitudes towards regular school attendance have changed since the Covid19 pandemic.
“Information provided by EA indicates there has been a 15.2 percentage point increase in the number of pupils attending 95% or more half sessions (regular attendance) between June 22 and June 25, which forms a good basis on which to make further progress.
“A range of support is available to children and young people and their parents. The Department is continuing to provide support for schools and families through funding such as £75million for Targeting Social Need, £7.7million for Extended Schools, £4.1million for the Emotional Health and Wellbeing in Education Framework and an array of other support programmes.
“The department published Attendance Matters – A Practical Guide and good practice resources in the last academic year to help schools improve regular attendance.”
