What was the situation?
14 year old Millie was referred to School-Home Support practitioner Lucy because she was regularly refusing to attend school, and her attendance had dropped to just 37%.
She felt overwhelmed by the thought of going to school and would often refuse to get out of the car when her mum tried to take her. Lucy met with Millie’s mum and she expressed that Millie had attachment issues, and felt paranoid that people were talking about her.
This complex situation meant that Millie was completely disengaged from her learning at a crucial time, and was not able to think about her future or the qualifications she would need to progress after school.
How did School-Home Support help?
Lucy took the time to get to know Millie and slowly build her trust. At first, Lucy would go out to the car every morning to encourage Millie to come into school and walk in together. By consistently showing up for Millie, Lucy was able to build a trusting relationship that enabled Millie to feel safer and calmer in school. Before long, Millie felt able to go into school on her own, taking herself to see Lucy when she felt she needed to.
Through accessing Lucy’s support, Millie’s mum is much stronger and more persistent with Millie, and is better at keeping Lucy and the school informed if she refuses to attend school.
As Millie feels more able to open up to Lucy, she has been working with her to explore her future career options, working out exactly which qualifications she will need. Looking to the future has helped encourage Millie to attend school more regularly, now that she feels she has something to work towards.
Millie’s attendance has been up and down, but after just 2 months of support her overall attendance has increased to 39.4%. With Lucy’s support in place, she is on track to continuing improving. Millie’s mum said: “Thank you so much, Lucy. You are so good with her [Millie], and she said she loves to see you when she comes in as you take her anxiety away.”