Some children don’t need more pressure to fit into a classroom. They need a different place to begin.
Perhaps the worry starts on Sunday evening. Perhaps your child gets dressed for school but cannot get out of the car. Perhaps they manage to attend, but come home exhausted, upset or unable to face another day.
You may have watched a child who once enjoyed learning begin to say, “I can’t,” “I’m rubbish at this,” or “Please don’t make me go.”
As a parent, it can be painful to see. You want your child to have an education, friendships and opportunities. You also see how much they are struggling.
At House of Orkney Education, our alternative provision has been designed with children experiencing these difficulties in mind: children who need a calmer environment, closer relationships and a carefully supported route back into learning.
What is EBSA?
Emotionally Based School Avoidance, often shortened to EBSA, describes difficulties attending school that are associated with emotional distress. You may also see it described as emotional barriers to school attendance.
These difficulties can affect a child’s attendance, their ability to engage and their confidence in school. Understanding what is making school difficult is an essential part of planning support.
The term gives us a way to discuss the difficulty, but it does not tell us everything about an individual child.
We still need to ask: What feels overwhelming? What happens before the distress begins? When does learning feel more manageable? What does the child wish adults understood?
Those questions shape our starting point.
Looking beyond the attendance figure
An attendance figure tells us how often a child has been in school. It cannot tell us the whole story of what getting there has required.
Parents may be managing difficult mornings, repeated calls from school and worry about missed learning. Children may be carrying their own fears about falling behind, getting things wrong or facing situations they do not yet feel able to manage.
At House of Orkney Education, we want to understand that story.
We listen to the child and their family, alongside information from their school and other professionals. We consider their strengths and interests as well as their needs, and look carefully at the circumstances in which they can engage.
That understanding helps us plan meaningful next steps.
How our alternative provision is designed to help
Our provision at Howdon Community Hub in North Tyneside offers a small, calm learning environment, with sessions capped at six learners and support from a specialist teacher and a member of support staff. We are proud to be an approved provider for Alternative Provision and Tuition for North Tyneside Local Authority.
The size of the group matters because it gives us time to notice, respond and adapt. We can get to know how a child communicates, what helps them take part and when an activity needs adjusting.
Our approach brings together several important elements.
Relationships and predictable routines
We give children time to get to know the adults supporting them. We explain what will happen and help them become familiar with the space and the rhythm of a session.
We want children to know that they can ask for help, communicate discomfort and experience an adult responding thoughtfully.
A manageable starting point
A child who has lost confidence may find even a familiar learning task difficult to approach.
We plan from their current starting point. That might mean exploring a practical activity together, joining in with a short game or completing a small piece of work with support.
The intention is to create achievable steps that lead somewhere: towards greater participation, growing independence and meaningful learning.
Practical, purposeful learning
Learning here can involve movement, making, investigating, talking and problem-solving.
A measuring activity might begin with comparing pumpkins or exploring a bat’s wingspan. Writing might grow from giving instructions for something a child has made. Reading might have a purpose within a game or investigation.
These activities give us opportunities to develop reading, writing and mathematical understanding while responding to the child’s interests and needs.
We give children time to explore an idea, practise it and understand it.
Support that responds to the individual
Children experiencing school distress do not all need the same approach.
Some need help rebuilding confidence in particular subjects. Others need support with communication, relationships, transitions or participating alongside other learners.
We adapt our teaching and review how the child responds. Our aim is to make learning accessible while continuing to offer appropriate challenge.
Rebuilding the belief that “I can learn”
When learning has become associated with worry, a child may begin to doubt their own ability.
One parent, Lorna, described her son coming to House of Orkney Education after a very challenging period at school. He had lost confidence in his learning and felt anxious about attempting reading and writing.
In her feedback about his weekly learning sessions, she described progress in his core skills and a growing belief in his ability to learn. She also shared that he looked forward to attending.
This was feedback about his individual learning support, rather than an alternative provision placement. It reflects the approach that also informs our AP: understanding the learner, adapting the environment and creating opportunities to experience success.
Every child’s experience will be different. We cannot promise the same outcome, but we can commit to thoughtful teaching, close observation and an individual approach.
What progress can look like
Academic learning remains important. We also pay attention to the steps that help a child access it.
Progress might include entering the room with less support, asking an adult for help, attempting an unfamiliar activity or working alongside another learner.
It might mean returning to a task after a break, sharing an idea or beginning to recognise their own strengths.
We consider these changes alongside participation, attendance and academic progress. Together, they help us understand what is improving and what still needs attention.
Working together around the child
Support for emotional barriers to attendance needs collaboration between families, schools and relevant services.
Our alternative provision is intended to contribute to that shared plan.
We work with those involved in the child’s education to agree suitable goals, share observations and review next steps. Where a return to school is the agreed aim, we want the learning and confidence developed with us to support that transition.
The route forward will depend on the child’s needs and circumstances. It needs to be planned and reviewed with them, rather than assumed in advance.
A different place to begin
If your child is struggling to attend school, you may be worried that their opportunities are getting smaller.
Our aim is to help open them up again: through relationships, accessible learning and experiences that help your child begin to see what they can do.
Some children need a different environment to take those first steps. A quieter space. A smaller group. An adult with time to understand. A task that feels possible.
That is the starting point we aim to offer at House of Orkney Education.
If you are a parent, school or professional exploring alternative provision in North Tyneside, please get in touch. We can discuss the child’s needs, explain our offer and consider whether our setting could be a suitable part of their support plan.
Contact Catherine at catherine@houseoforkneyeducation.co.uk.
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