When Children Cannot Attend School in Wales: The Families Support Systems Often Forget

Published 13 March 2026

This article is part of the Learn Without Limits series exploring practical ways to reduce stress for families navigating Additional Learning Needs in Wales.

Many support programmes for disabled children are built around activities.

Workshops.
Parent groups.
Holiday clubs.
Training sessions.

These programmes are often well intentioned and can be very helpful for families who are able to attend.

However, they are built on an assumption that is rarely questioned.

That assumption is that families can attend.

For a significant number of families, that assumption simply does not hold.

For many families this situation arises because of complex health needs, chronic illness, rare genetic conditions or post-viral illness such as Long Covid.

When a child cannot attend

Some children cannot reliably access school or public environments because of medical conditions, complex health needs, or fluctuating chronic illness.

Examples include:

  • immunosuppression
  • epilepsy with a risk of SUDEP
  • severe allergies
  • haemophilia and bleeding disorders
  • cancer treatment
  • rare genetic conditions
  • ME/CFS
  • Long Covid and other post-viral illnesses

Families often build their lives around medical safety, fluctuating health, or periods in hospital.

Evidence that this group is larger than many people realise

Persistent absence in Welsh secondary schools rose to around 37% of pupils after the pandemic.

47% of secondary pupils with Additional Learning Needs were persistently absent, compared with 31.4% without ALN.

Around 105,000 learners in Wales are formally recognised as having Additional Learning Needs.

Health and long-term conditions are a significant factor

Research from Long Covid Kids found children losing an average of 20.6 hours of learning per week due to illness and fatigue.

Evidence from across Wales

Education monitoring reports across Wales identify persistent absence as a major challenge following the pandemic.

Families across north, south and west Wales are navigating education systems while children cannot attend school in the conventional way.

The hidden isolation

When support programmes rely on attendance, families whose children cannot attend school may also be unable to access the support designed to help them.

Designing support that families can actually access

Accessible support can include:

  • guidance families can read when they have the energy
  • communities accessible from home
  • practical navigation tools
  • peer support

Families may explore reduced timetables, flexischooling, Elective Home Education, or alternative provision such as EOTAS (Education Otherwise Than At School).

Prevention rather than crisis

Accessible information and peer support can help families navigate systems earlier and reduce escalation.

Listening to families

Accessibility is not only about buildings and ramps.

It is about recognising that some families cannot attend services in traditional ways.

Working alongside existing services

Remote guidance and communities can complement existing services by reaching families who might otherwise remain isolated.

This challenge sits within a wider pattern affecting many families navigating Additional Learning Needs in Wales. We explore that wider pattern in the next article:

Why Support for Children with ALN Often Arrives Only After Crisis

References

  1. Senedd Research – Not in school: pupil absence in Wales
    https://research.senedd.wales/research-articles/not-in-school-pupil-absence/

  2. Welsh Government – Attendance and absence from secondary schools in Wales
    https://www.gov.wales/attendance-and-absence-secondary-schools

  3. Welsh Government – Additional Learning Needs statistics for Wales
    https://www.gov.wales/additional-learning-needs-aln-statistics

  4. Long Covid Kids – Children Missing from Education evidence submission
    https://www.longcovidkids.org/