Improving your child’s school attendance

Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance (EBSNA) describes the difficulties that some children and young people have in attending school due to emotional factors. This can result in prolonged absences from school.

EBSNA includes children and young people who:

• go to school but experience separation or social anxiety, and psychosomatic illnesses
• have frequent absences due to anxiety or illness
• are unable to attend daily

EBSNA may also be known as Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA).

The guidance aims to help parents or carers understand EBSNA and to support children and young people.

The EBSNA toolkit provides guidance and resources for professionals working in or with schools to develop an understanding of what leads children and young people to feel that they must avoid school.

Professionals also have access to a series of short pre-recorded training sessions. These sessions introduce the nature and causes of EBSNA.