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Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) in Croydon 

 

We are thrilled to announce that our Maudsley Education Consultation Service (MECS) team has been granted funding from the Maudsley Charity’s Building Brighter Futures fund to improve young people’s school attendance and mental health. In partnership with the Harris Federation, we will be working in secondary schools in Croydon to support students and their families, especially those who are struggling to go to school due to their mental health. 

Background

Persistent school absence (defined as missing at least 10% of school sessions) has almost doubled between 2018 and 2025 (DfE, 2025), making it an increasingly significant and urgent problem in the UK. Persistent absences can be linked to emotionally based school avoidance (EBSA), whereby children miss school due to anxiety (West Sussex Educational Psychology Service, 2022; Finning et al 2019). However, no systems currently in place can consistently measure the link between mental ill-health and school absence, making it difficult to differentiate between students who are missing school due to mental health difficulties from those missing school for other reasons. Yet it’s important to make this distinction so we can provide the right support to students and their families. 

About the project

We will be working with the Harris Federation to improve school attendance by identifying students and families experiencing (or at risk of) EBSA and supporting them to attend school through targeted support and improvements to the school environment. The project targets the transition from primary to secondary school to ensure young people (and their families) are well-equipped to navigate the complexities of secondary school. We aim to do so through four focus areas which are designed to: 

 

  • Identify students and families experiencing (or at risk of) EBSA as they transition from primary to secondary school, using the myJournE online survey.
  • Reduce EBSA in secondary school by adapting the Intervention for School Anxiety and Absenteeism in Children (ISAAC), which will be delivered to students with persistent absence and mental health difficulties, as well as their parents, in the summer between the Year 6 and Year 7 transition.
  • Train attendance-mentoring staff in secondary school to support students and their families with school- and mental health-related concerns.
  • Produce change to both foster a better school environment and support attendance for anxious and neurodiverse students, based on the principles of the RE-STAR programme.

Community-centred approach

This project has the school community at its core. It will be co-produced with students and families with lived experience of EBSA, as well as with Harris secondary school staff, through a series of workshops. This is to ensure that the interventions and resources provided are both feasible and tailored to the community they aim to support.

 

Stay tuned for more to come on this exciting initiative! 

Want to get in touch?  

Whether you are a school, a research group or an organisation, we would love to hear from you! Contact us if you have any questions, would like to collaborate and/or to hear more about our initiatives. 

Email Address: mecs@slam.nhs.uk 

 

Address

The Michael Rutter Centre

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust- Maudsley Hospital

De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AB