Emotionally based school avoidance

Emotionally based school avoidance, usually shortened to EBSA, is the name most English local authorities now use when anxiety or distress stops a child attending school. It replaced 'school refusal School refusal An older phrase for a child who cannot face going to school. Many people now say school avoidance instead, because the cause is usually anxiety, not choice. Read the full definition of School refusal ', and the change of name matters: refusal sounds like a choice, and for most of these children there is no choice involved.

The words a family uses can change which machinery responds. Absence framed as truancy leads towards fines and enforcement. The same absence recognised as EBSA leads towards understanding what is driving the distress and putting support in place, sometimes through a special educational needs SEND SEND is England's word for children who need extra help to learn. The rest of the UK uses other words, and other rules. Read the full definition of SEND route.

There is no single national definition. Each local authority Local authority Your local council. In England, Wales and Scotland, this is the body you ask to assess what extra help your child needs. Read the full definition of Local authority publishes its own guidance, some areas say EBSNA (non-attendance Did not attend The code a clinic records when an appointment is missed without the clinic being told first. You might hear staff say an appointment was a DNA, or that someone DNA'd. Read the full definition of Did not attend ) or 'school distress' instead because 'avoidance' can itself sound blaming, and the Department for Education's guidance for England talks about mental health issues affecting attendance. In Scotland and Northern Ireland the acronym is not standard, so asking for 'support with anxiety-related non-attendance' travels better there.

If your child is struggling to attend, ask the school and your local authority for their EBSA guidance by name, and ask for support to be planned before attendance letters escalate.