Wellbeing 

School Refusal

School refusal is when a young person is reluctant or is refusing to attend school due to emotional distress. It is often confused with truancy where a young person will hide their school absences from their parents/carers.

What are the signs of School Refusal?

- Reluctance or refusal to attend school

- Anxiety about school related matters such as friendships, homework, classwork

- Frequent visits to sick bay and health complaints such as stomach-ache, headache, dizziness

- Messages from your young person during the day asking you to come and pick them up from school.

What happens if a young person is school refusing?

In addition to the impact on students, as parents it can be embarrassing when your young person is refusing to attend school and can result in parents feeling powerless and highly distressed. Often families report that it is highly stressful and creates a lot of tension at home and impacts their ability to focus on and attend their own workplaces.

How can we address this issue?

- Contact the school – your Student Manager is a good place to start. If you have more significant concerns for their mental health, you may also contact the Well Being team direct through the front office

- Take one day at a time - children’s behaviour and willingness to attend school is different every day and it is often unpredictable. It is important to try to take each day as it comes and manage issues as they may arise.

- Establish a healthy morning and night routine

- Try and predict in advance days that will be difficult and plan through before the day with your young person what will help

- Encourage open conversations – show genuine interest in why they don’t want to come to school, this will allow you to know what’s in your young person’s mind when they wake up in the morning, what is stopping them from attending school, and what it looks like for them when they are at school. 

-  Avoid letting these conversations escalate into fights about going to school but make it clear that you want and expect them to go to school and need them to work with you to make this possible

- Get support for yourself and your young person. Headspace or your GP are good places to start

- Monash and Deakin University are running a pilot online program for parents whose children are school refusing. For more information, please see flyer attached to this Newsletter