Extended School Non-Attendance Advisory Panel (ESNAAP)

Attending school is often seen as crucial for developing not only children’s academic ability but also their skills, values, cultural knowledge and sense of citizenship. Equally, it is recognised that most children will occasionally not attend school for a short while during their education. However, for a proportion of the school age population, this absence becomes extended and acts as a barrier to learning and development. Knowing how best to support children and young people with extended school non-attendance can be challenging. As there are many possible reasons for the non-attendance and many different ways to support.

When supporting children with extended non-attendance, schools should work in close partnership with families and seek support from their link SEND and Inclusion partners to agree a graduated response. In some cases, this will lead to an improvement in the situation and no further action will be needed. In cases, where despite this support being provided, the young person’s situation has shown no or only limited improvement, schools may refer the young person’s case to the Extended School Non-Attendance Advisory Panel (ESNAAP).

Please ensure that parents are aware of and understand the privacy notice before submitting referrals. The Attend Tool must also be completed prior to completing the ESNAAP referral form. 

Extended School Non-Attendance Advisory Panel referral form

ESNAAP’s current remit is to act in an advisory role to signpost schools to a range of services and pathways available to support them and to offer advice on the ATTEND framework which can support conversations with a child and their family to help identify and address barriers to attendance. The panel is not able to provide additional funding or resources to settings.

ESNAAP is made up of professionals from Coventry’s SEND team, Attendance and Children Missing Education team, Work-Related Learning, the Education Psychology Service, Early Help, Alternative Provision and Health. The panel meets once a month to discuss referrals and agree on the advice and guidance to be given to each school for their consideration. After each meeting, a member of the panel will feedback the outcomes of their discussion to the school together with advice. This may be signposting to additional resources and support, or in the most complex cases, a short-term intervention from Alternative Provision may be suggested.

SENCO Guide for extended non-attendance in Schools - Early Support

Referrals for HES intervention for year 11 pupils are not considered after the Autumn term (December 2023 Panel)