School factors that may contribute to difficulties attending school

School factors

Factors associated with the school system may include:

• Bullying and cyber bullying;
• Relationships with peers and/or adults;
• Transitioning from primary to secondary school or moving school;
• Accessing the structure and routine of the school day;
• Learning ability;
• Increased academic demand;
• Exams and tests;
• Travelling to school;
• Unidentified or unmet learning and/or pastoral needs; and
• Size and layout of the school.

So my first few years of secondary school, I was bullied like, really, really badly. So that obviously had a really negative impact on my mental health (young person).

An awful lot of comments were made in classes, and teachers heard them and jokes inappropriate comments were made, not even just about me, but about anyone who was different; the teachers heard them but they didn’t say anything (young person).

“It’s easy to get a very shallow glimpse of what’s going on for a young person and come to a snap decision about what’s causing the anxiety and non-attendance at school” (multiagency professional).

“A few of [their peers] were like, oh, how you getting away with this? He doesn’t feel he's getting away with it, he feels that he can't actually go in” (parent).

He's been able to articulate that, at school, he finds lessons boring because he's academically very bright” (parent).

I never really had trouble attending [primary school] because there was always a reason to go; I really enjoyed it there. Then secondary school kind of hit (young person).