A clear framework for recognising Emotionally Based School Avoidance can help schools respond earlier, gather the right information and plan support that matches the child or young person’s experience. The guidance is particularly relevant for SENCOs, attendance leads, pastoral teams, educational psychologists and inclusion services working with children, teenagers and families where anxiety, distress or prolonged absence are affecting school attendance.
In everyday attendance work, Emotionally Based School Avoidance often needs careful reflection rather than a simple attendance response. The guidance explains EBSA as severe difficulty attending school linked to emotional distress, and distinguishes it from truancy by focusing on anxiety, low mood, separation worries, social pressures, academic demands and the school environment.
Professionals looking for school refusal guidance, anxiety-based absence advice or EBSA support planning will find a structured overview of causes, identifying signs and maintaining cycles. The early sections describe how avoidance and reassurance can reduce anxiety in the short term but make returning to school harder over time, with diagrams showing thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
The contents show a practical structure for assessment and planning, including risk and resilience factors, information gathering with the child, parents and school staff, analysis, action planning, interventions, review and transition. Later sections also cover whole-school good practice, attendance law, Education Health and Care needs assessment requests, FAQs and local support resources.
Appendices add hands-on tools that could be used in meetings, supervision, pastoral planning or multi-agency work. These include a Profile of Risk of EBSA, school landscape mapping, information gathering templates, example support plans, laddering for gradual exposure, a whole-school audit, learning and social environment cards for primary and secondary pupils, rating scales and subject preference tools.
Named contributors include Dr Sam Beasley, Dr Caoimhe Weeks, Jonathan Willcocks and Dave Harvey, adapting earlier West Sussex Educational Psychology Service work for the Hampshire context.
