EBSA Project

Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) is a term used to describe children and young people (CYP) who experience challenges in attending school due to negative feelings (such as anxiety). 

EBSA is commonly associated with emotional and physical distress, and a reluctance to attend school, which can lead to reduced attendance and further anxiety regarding school.

The Educational Psychology (EP) Team are in the process of setting up a weekly drop-in session for schools to discuss their concerns about EBSA in the school. There will be a drop-in for each are hub and it is expected that these will begin after the Autumn half term.

If you have any general enquires about EBSA in the meantime, please email ebsa@buckinghamshire.gov.uk and we will try to support you through signposting and/or directing you to appropriate referral pathways.

Buckinghamshire Council’s Integrated SEN Service has designed a free bespoke, high-quality training programme. Our training will be delivered by a range of Local Authority Professionals, including Specialist Teacher and Educational Psychologists.

Our training will support educational professionals’ learning and development whilst supporting our iSEND Service Ambitions.

Autism Education Trust (AET) Training

iSEND is proud to offer the AET training to our settings for free this year.

The AET schools programme offers training and resources to professionals working across all education settings for school-aged pupils aged 5 to 16 years via a network of specialist training hubs across the UK.

Supported by the Department for Education, the programme offers nationally delivered face-to-face or virtual training for professionals working with Autistic children and young people up to the age of 25.

The training uses a range of teaching methods to form an essential part of your continued professional development.

This suite of resources will support leaders or leadership teams to create a culture change across their provision. The resources will support leaders to embed the 8 principles of good autism practice as outlined in the Good Autism Practice Report.

To book whole-school 'Making sense of Autism' training for your school please email sts@buckinghamshire.gov.uk.

You can read more about the Autism Education Trust on their website.

National Autistic Society EarlyBird Plus

EarlyBird Plus is an eight-week programme designed for the families and settings of primary school aged children with a diagnosis of Autism. It is also designed for children with needs identified as Autism but where a diagnostic assessment has not been undertaken. 

Sessions are designed for settings to attend alongside parents. They are based on a group learning approach whereby parents, professionals and trainers share experiences and strategies. The course aims to: 

• Equip parents and carers to develop a greater understanding od their child's needs.
• Develop a consistent approach across settings (home and school). 
• Empower parents and professionals to understand more about autism and the needs of the autistic children they support. 

Sessions run from Abbey Centre, HP19 9NS on Mondays, 10am to 12.30pm. The course includes topics such as: 

• understanding and supporting sensory differences 
• understanding and supporting communication differences
• understanding and interpreting behaviour

There are also two individual family sessions for parents to discuss any particular issues. This enables the approach to be personalised for their child with the course leader. 

Cohorts will run termly starting in September, January and April and cohort sizes are limited. Families not allocated to a particular cohort will be offered future dates and we shall therefore, hold personal data for this purpose. 

Families are not charged for attending the course, although we will ask for a voluntary contribution towards refreshments. 

More information can be found on the EarlyBird website.

Referrals

School SENCo's can make referrals to this programme, with parental agreement.

Contact us

If any further information is required please do not hesitate to contact us on 01494 475199 or email at sts@buckinghamshire.gov.uk.

Schools can download the EarlyBird Plus parent information leaflet. [PDF, 218kb]