Mental Health Issues Affecting School Attendance – What schools can do to support and hold to account

Course introduction

The government document ‘Summary of responsibilities where a mental health issue is affecting attendance’ published February 2023 states that ‘Schools should set and maintain high expectations for the attendance, engagement and punctuality of pupils who are anxious about attending school. It is important to recognise that, in many instances, attendance at school may serve to help with the underlying issue as much as being away from school might exacerbate it, and a prolonged period of absence may heighten their anxiety about attending in future.

This workshop will help school leaders, pastoral leaders, and those with responsibility for attendance address a number of key questions:

• What should school staff be doing to support pupil mental health?
• When is it appropriate for a pupil to be absent from school because of a mental health issue?
• How to facilitate support for children where mental health issues affect attendance.
• How to handle situations where parents and carers do not engage with or agree with support offered.

By the end of this workshop, participants will:

• Know government expectations around the support and challenge on mental health issues affecting attendance.
• Understand responsibilities, accountabilities and inspection expectations around mental health issues affecting attendance.
• Be able to apply learning from the workshop to produce an affective and impactful mental health attendance strategy for their own school.

See what others have to say about us

“I've been on several NSMTC courses and can highly recommend them. Nicola is knowledgeable, engaging and keen for her delegates to participate. The ACEs course today has been really useful and I know I have strategies and ideas that I can disseminate immediately to colleagues in school. The courses strike the right balance between the host explaining and the delegates participating and the chat break out rooms are always useful.”

“Amazing! Highly relevant, thought provoking and informative. I feel well equipped to raise awareness of the effects of trauma and how to try and unravel things to provide relevant support”

“Excellent! The training was an absolute pleasure, very worthwhile and excellently delivered by an obviously knowledgeable and experienced trainer. It provided a plethora of strategies that will impact greatly on the work we do and despite the subject manner, we were not made to feel uncomfortable at all. Nicola went to every effort to get to know us!”

About the venue

Stay at home, get comfortable and enjoy our live interactive course via Zoom! You’ll receive the link a few days before the course date so you can get prepared (and excited) ahead of time.

Handy course logistics

• The course will run via Zoom from 1.00pm – 4.00pm, however, the trainer will be available 15 minutes before and after the course times to answer any questions.
• You’ll receive an afternoon breaks to re-energise.
• This course is designed to be interactive and inclusive. We welcome questions and discussions throughout and we want you to be comfortable and stress-free no matter where you join us from!
• Your course pack includes handouts, an M&S voucher for food, a snack, a pen and a notepad – we’ll send this to you before the day. Please note this is only for UK-based participants, international attendees will receive the pack via email. PLEASE NOTE: We are going paperless from 31st August 2025. To reduce our environmental impact, NSM Training & Consultancy will no longer post printed delegate packs after 31st August 2025. If you book by 31st August 2025, you will receive a printed pack by post, after this date you will receive only your handouts via email (M&S voucher, a snack, and a pen will no longer be available). Same great content, now greener and more efficient. Thank you for your support as we go paperless.
• Additional links and information will be emailed to you before and during the course.
• This course is also available as an in-house / INSET training session at your school. Contact us for details.
• Please Note – the cost is per person