Sensory Needs, Attendance, EBSA and School Avoidance: When Won't Attend May Mean Can't Access

Published 17 May 2026

Learn Without Limits CIC - Sensory Needs and the ALN System - Article 6

This article is part of our Sensory Needs and the ALN System series.

It follows on from:

What Are Sensory Needs, and Why Do They Matter in the ALN System?

How Do I Ask for a Sensory, OT or Related Assessment in Wales?

How Do Sensory Needs Show Up in Nursery and Early Years?

Sensory Needs in Primary School: What Parents in Wales Need to Notice, Record and Ask For

Sensory Needs in Secondary School: Why Things Can Intensify in Years 7 to 11

This article also links with our wider guidance on attendance warnings, fines and prosecution in Wales, what makes a good IDP review, how to challenge an ALN decision in Wales, and EOTAS in Wales.

This article provides general information for families in Wales. It is not medical, legal, therapeutic or safeguarding advice. If a child or young person may be injured, unwell, unsafe, at risk, or in crisis, parents and carers should seek appropriate professional or emergency help.

Why attendance problems can be a signal

When a child cannot attend school, the conversation can quickly become about attendance percentages, unauthorised absence, warning letters, fines, prosecution risk or parental responsibility.

Those things can feel terrifying for parents.

But attendance difficulty is often a signal, not the whole problem.

A child who is not attending may be anxious.

They may be burnt out.

They may be bullied.

They may be unwell.

They may have unmet Additional Learning Needs.

They may be overwhelmed by noise, light, smell, touch, movement, crowds, transitions, toilets, uniform, lunch halls, transport, PE, changing rooms, social pressure or the sheer effort of masking all day.

They may be trying to tell adults:

I cannot access this environment safely, consistently or without serious distress.

That is very different from:

I do not feel like going.

This distinction matters because the wrong explanation leads to the wrong response.

If the problem is treated only as attendance, the response may be pressure, sanctions and escalation.

If the problem is understood as access, the response should include pattern recognition, support, adjustments, professional advice where needed, and a careful review of whether the child’s current provision is actually working.

What is EBSA?

EBSA usually means emotionally based school avoidance.

It is commonly used to describe a pattern where attending school has become emotionally difficult, distressing or overwhelming for a child or young person.

EBSA is not a diagnosis.

It is a description of what is happening.

For some children, sensory barriers may be one of the reasons school feels unsafe, painful, exhausting or impossible. A child may become anxious because they are repeatedly expected to enter an environment their body cannot tolerate.

That means the question should not be:

Is this sensory or anxiety?

It should be:

What is making school feel impossible, and are sensory barriers part of that pattern?

“Won’t attend” may mean “can’t access”

Parents often say that their child “won’t go to school” because that is the language the system uses.

But for some children, “won’t” is not accurate.

The child may be unable to tolerate the school environment.

They may not yet have the words to explain why.

They may say:

“I hate school.”
“I feel sick.”
“I can’t.”
“Everyone is horrible.”
“It’s too loud.”
“The toilets are disgusting.”
“I don’t know.”
“Leave me alone.”
“I just can’t go.”

Those words may be the surface of something deeper.

A child who cannot manage the lunch hall may not say “I have auditory and smell-based sensory overload in that environment”.

They may say:

I’m not eating.

A child who cannot tolerate uniform may not say “the seams, collar and waistband feel painful and distracting all day”.

They may say:

I’m not wearing it.

A child who cannot use school toilets may not say “the smell, hand dryers, social risk and lack of privacy make my body freeze”.

They may say:

I don’t need to go.

A young person who masks all day and collapses at home may not say “my nervous system has used up all its capacity”.

They may scream, shut down, refuse the next morning, or become unable to leave the house.

This is why the useful question is not only:

How do we get them back through the door?

It is:

What is making school hard to access, and what support would make attendance safer and more sustainable?

Attendance is not the same as access

A child can be physically present in school and still not be properly accessing school.

They may be:

present but not eating;
present but not drinking;
present but not using the toilet;
present but avoiding PE;
present but silently panicking;
present but masking;
present but not learning;
present but unable to ask for help;
present but avoiding social spaces;
present but exhausted by sensory overload;
present but collapsing at home afterwards.

That matters.

A child who is in the building but unable to eat, toilet, learn, communicate, regulate or recover is not “fine”.

They may be attending in a way that is not sustainable.

If the goal is only to get the attendance mark, adults may miss the access problem underneath.

If the goal is sustainable attendance, adults need to ask what the child can actually manage once they are there.

How sensory needs can feed into EBSA and school avoidance

Emotionally based school avoidance is often discussed as anxiety-based.

That can be true.

But anxiety does not appear from nowhere.

A child may become anxious because school has become unpredictable, painful, exhausting, humiliating or impossible to manage.

Sensory needs can feed into EBSA when the child repeatedly anticipates distress.

For example:

corridors may be crowded, noisy and physically unpredictable;
the lunch hall may be too loud, smelly or socially exposing;
toilets may feel unsafe, dirty, echoing or embarrassing;
uniform may cause pain, itchiness, heat or panic;
PE may involve noise, changing, sweat, body awareness, touch, smell and public comparison;
transport may involve noise, smell, crowding, motion sickness or bullying;
assemblies may involve sitting still, music, echo, crowding and bright lights;
classrooms may involve glare, visual clutter, scraping chairs or background noise;
homework may arrive after the child has already used all their capacity surviving the day.

Over time, the child may begin to dread school before they get there.

Sunday night may become difficult.

Mornings may become impossible.

The child may feel sick, panic, freeze, bolt, cry, shout, hide, refuse, or become physically unable to get dressed or leave the house.

That may be described as school refusal.

But in many families, the more accurate description is school distress, school avoidance, or school access breakdown.

Why “fine in school” does not settle the question

One of the most painful things parents hear is:

They are fine once they are here.

Sometimes school genuinely does not see the same distress that parents see.

That does not mean parents are exaggerating.

It may mean the child is masking.

It may mean the child is shutting down rather than melting down.

It may mean the child is compliant but not coping.

It may mean the child is surviving lessons but paying for it later.

It may mean the child is avoiding the hardest parts of the day quietly.

It may mean school is seeing the child before the crash, and home is seeing the crash itself.

In our first sensory article, we explained that sensory access can change from room to room, activity to activity and day to day. A child may cope in one setting and collapse in another. That is why a shared diary can help adults move away from “fine here” versus “not fine at home” and towards pattern recognition.

A child can be:

quiet in class and overwhelmed inside;
compliant in school and explosive at home;
attending full time and still not accessing learning properly;
present in the building but unable to use toilets, eat lunch, join PE or manage transitions;
masking successfully until they cannot mask anymore.

Attendance is not the same as access.

Presence is not the same as wellbeing.

Compliance is not the same as coping.

Do not wait until attendance fully collapses

Parents do not have to wait until attendance has completely broken down before asking for a review.

Repeated distress can be enough to justify asking school to look at access.

Early warning signs may include:

Sunday night anxiety;
repeated stomach aches or headaches;
panic before school;
uniform distress;
refusal to use school toilets;
not eating during the school day;
after-school meltdowns;
shutdown after school;
sleep disruption;
increasing lateness;
repeated requests to come home;
distress around specific lessons or spaces;
growing fear of corridors, lunch, PE or transport;
repeated comments such as “I can’t do this anymore”.

This is where prevention matters.

If adults wait until the child is fully out of school, the route back can become much harder.

Before attendance becomes enforcement, ask what has been tried to make school accessible

Attendance pressure alone can make things worse if the access barriers have not been understood.

Before attendance concerns escalate into warning letters, formal meetings, fines or prosecution anxiety, parents can ask for an access review.

That review should bring together the people who see different parts of the picture.

This may include:

parent or carer;
child or young person, where possible;
class teacher or form tutor;
ALNCo;
attendance lead;
pastoral lead;
head of year;
Teaching Assistant, where there is one;
school nurse or other relevant professional.

The review should ask:

What parts of the day are hardest to access?
What evidence do we have from home and school?
Are sensory needs being considered?
Are anxiety and sensory overload feeding into each other?
Is the child eating and drinking?
Is the child using the toilet?
Are they safe in corridors, lunch, PE, transport and unstructured times?
Is masking or after-school collapse part of the pattern?
Has the ALNCo reviewed whether ALN or an IDP review is needed?
What adjustments can be tried now?
What professional advice is needed?
What will be reviewed, and when?

This is not about ignoring attendance.

It is about making attendance possible.

Useful wording:

Please can we hold an access review before attendance action escalates, so we can look at what is making school hard to access and what support or adjustments may make attendance more sustainable?

What parents can record

Parents do not need to diagnose the issue before asking for help.

They can start by recording the pattern.

Useful things to record include:

sleep the night before;
food and drink;
toileting;
uniform distress;
morning behaviour;
physical symptoms such as headache, stomach ache, nausea or pain;
panic, shutdown, anger or tears;
specific school days or lessons that seem harder;
whether PE, assembly, lunch, tests or timetable changes are involved;
transport difficulties;
social incidents;
after-school collapse;
how long recovery takes;
what helps;
what makes things worse.

A simple format can be enough:

| Date | Before school | School trigger or event | After school | What helped | What needs checking | |—|—|—|—|—|—|

Examples might include:

“Refused socks and shoes for 40 minutes. PE day.”
“Stomach ache before school. Had assembly and lunch hall yesterday.”
“Came home silent, went straight to bed, did not eat until 8pm.”
“Meltdown after school. Said toilets are disgusting and everyone shouts.”
“No issue on inset day. Panic returned Sunday evening.”
“Better on day when allowed packed lunch and quiet space.”

The aim is not to build a case against the child, parent or school.

The aim is to make the pattern visible.

What school should help identify

School should not only ask whether the child is absent.

School should help identify what the child is struggling to access.

Useful questions include:

Is the child arriving late because the morning transition is too hard?
Are they avoiding particular lessons?
Are they avoiding lunch?
Are they avoiding toilets?
Are they avoiding PE or changing rooms?
Are they distressed after corridors or lesson changeovers?
Are they masking in lessons and collapsing later?
Are they eating and drinking?
Are they using the toilet?
Are they being bullied or socially isolated?
Are they struggling more with supply teachers or room changes?
Are sensory needs being considered?
Is the current timetable accessible?
Is the current provision enough?

In secondary school, this is harder because no one teacher sees the full day. As we explained in Article 5 on sensory needs in secondary school, where a child has a Teaching Assistant, that person may be well placed to notice patterns across the day. Where there is no TA, a named adult may need to coordinate information from the form tutor, head of year, ALNCo, pastoral lead, subject teachers and attendance staff.

The key is that the attendance conversation should not become detached from the access conversation.

The role of a sensory-trained OT and sensory diet

Where sensory needs are significantly affecting attendance, an occupational therapist with appropriate sensory training can have an important role.

Parents may hear the phrase “sensory diet”.

A sensory diet is not about food. It usually means a planned set of sensory activities, routines, environmental adjustments and coping strategies designed to help a child regulate across the day.

For some children, this might include movement, pressure, quiet time, sensory breaks, predictable routines, oral-motor strategies, reduced noise, reduced visual load, safe exit plans or specific calming activities.

A good sensory diet or sensory regulation plan should not be a random list of ideas copied from the internet.

It should be individual to the child.

It should be based on assessment, observation and professional judgement.

It should be practical enough for the adults around the child to use.

It may need to be used across different settings, including:

home;
school;
transport;
after-school clubs;
respite or short breaks;
social care settings;
family activities;
community spaces.

The aim is to help the child:

regulate;
moderate sensory load;
use appropriate coping strategies;
use agreed communication tools;
access safe calming routines;
recover before crisis;
reduce avoidable distress;
stay safer in more settings.

If a child already has a sensory diet, it may need to be reviewed when attendance becomes difficult.

A strategy that worked in primary school may not work in secondary school.

A strategy that worked before puberty may need changing.

A strategy that works at home may need adapting for school.

A strategy that works in one classroom may not work in corridors, lunch halls, toilets, buses or PE.

Parents can ask:

Is my child’s current sensory plan still appropriate, and does it help them access the school day safely and consistently?

And:

Do we need advice from an OT with sensory training to develop or review a sensory diet or sensory regulation plan across home and school?

A sensory diet should never be used to blame the child when they cannot regulate.

It should help adults understand what support, environment and timing make regulation more possible.

Professional evidence can help, but children need support while waiting

Professional evidence can be very helpful.

Letters or reports from an OT, GP, paediatrician, SALT, school nurse, CAMHS, optometrist, orthoptist, audiologist, physiotherapist, dietitian or other clinician may help explain why a child is struggling.

But families may wait months for assessment.

A child should not be left unsupported while everyone waits.

School can still:

record patterns;
involve the ALNCo;
consider reasonable adjustments;
trial practical support;
review the timetable;
agree a safe arrival plan;
agree a safe exit plan;
support lunch, toilets, uniform and PE access;
gather evidence for professionals;
review whether ALN or IDP action is needed.

Parents can use this wording:

We are seeking professional advice, but my child is struggling to attend now. Please can we agree interim support while evidence is being gathered?

That is often the practical prevention window.

What to ask before attendance enforcement escalates

Attendance enforcement can feel frightening, especially where parents have already spent months telling school that their child is distressed.

Before the situation escalates, parents can ask for the access picture to be reviewed.

Useful questions include:

Has the ALNCo reviewed whether sensory needs, anxiety, health needs or unmet ALN are affecting attendance?
Has an IDP review been requested or held?
If the child does not have an IDP, has school considered whether they may have ALN?
Has the child’s presentation at home been recorded and considered?
Has school identified which parts of the day are hardest to access?
Has a home-school diary been tried?
Has a safe arrival plan been agreed?
Has a safe exit or quiet-space plan been agreed?
Has toileting, lunch, uniform, PE and transport been reviewed?
Has professional advice been requested where needed?
Are reasonable adjustments or ALP being considered?
Is the current placement or timetable accessible?
Is attendance pressure making the situation worse?

Parents may find it helpful to read our article on attendance warnings, fines and prosecution in Wales, especially if the family has received a warning letter or is worried about legal escalation.

The important point is not to ignore attendance duties.

The point is to make sure attendance duties are not used as a substitute for understanding why the child cannot attend.

Sensory needs, anxiety and unmet ALN often overlap

Families are often pushed into separate boxes.

Is it sensory?

Is it anxiety?

Is it behaviour?

Is it attendance?

Is it ALN?

Is it parenting?

In real life, the answer may be more complicated.

A child may have sensory needs which create anxiety.

They may have communication needs which make it harder to explain distress.

They may have learning needs which make lessons feel unsafe or humiliating.

They may have physical pain, fatigue, sleep problems, eating difficulties or toileting needs.

They may be masking autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, trauma, PDA-profile needs, or another profile.

They may be experiencing bullying or social exclusion.

They may have an IDP that does not describe their current needs properly.

They may have no IDP because their needs have been missed.

That is why a useful review should look at the full pattern.

Not:

Is this sensory or anxiety?

But:

What sensory, communication, health, social, emotional, learning and environmental factors are making attendance difficult?

NICE guidance on autistic children and young people says professionals should consider factors that may increase the risk of behaviour that challenges, including communication difficulties, pain or physical disorders, mental health needs such as anxiety, other neurodevelopmental conditions, the physical environment including lighting and noise levels, the social environment, changes to routines, developmental change, exploitation or abuse, and lack of predictability and structure [8].

That matters because attendance difficulty may be the visible signal, not the whole explanation.

When attendance difficulty should trigger an IDP review

If a child has an IDP and attendance is breaking down, parents can ask for the IDP to be reviewed.

A useful question is:

If my child cannot attend or access school consistently, does the current IDP still accurately describe their needs and the ALP required?

Parents can also ask:

Does the IDP describe sensory needs clearly?
Does it describe attendance difficulty as part of the child’s access profile?
Does it include support for transitions, lunch, toilets, PE, uniform, transport or recovery?
Does it specify what staff should do when the child is overloaded?
Does it include professional advice where needed?
Does it include a safe plan for return or reduced attendance?
Does it explain what support is needed, by whom, how often and in what setting?
Does it need urgent review because provision is no longer working?

Our guide to what makes a good IDP review may help parents structure those questions.

If a child does not have an IDP, but sensory needs, anxiety, attendance difficulty and access problems are escalating, parents can ask whether the child may have ALN and whether an ALN decision is needed.

Welsh Government’s parent guide explains that a child may have ALN if they need extra support to learn because they find it harder to learn than other children of the same age, or because they have a disability that means they cannot use, or find it difficult to use, facilities for learning in a local nursery, school or college [10].

Practical prevention adjustments

The aim should be to prevent crisis, not wait for crisis.

Arrival and transition

Practical options might include:

safe arrival plan;
trusted adult at the gate;
quieter entrance;
flexible arrival window where appropriate;
calm start to the day;
leaving lessons early to avoid corridor crush;
safe route between rooms;
transition card or pass;
reduced exposure to the busiest corridors.

During the school day

Support might include:

safe exit pass;
green, yellow and red communication cards;
one-page sensory passport;
quiet place to rebalance;
lunch hall alternative;
toilet pass or discreet toileting plan;
packed lunch arrangement;
uniform flexibility;
PE or changing-room adjustments;
seating away from noise, glare or doors;
ear defenders or headphones where appropriate;
reduced copying from the board;
clear written instructions;
movement breaks;
preparation for fire drills, trips, non-uniform days or supply cover.

Timetable and workload

School may need to consider:

timetable review;
identifying high-risk lessons or spaces;
homework adjustment;
reduced workload during recovery;
phased return where appropriate;
reduced timetable only if properly planned and reviewed;
exam access considerations where relevant;
professional advice where needed.

Home-school recovery

Parents and school may need to consider:

after-school decompression;
not expecting immediate homework after collapse;
sleep pattern;
food and hydration;
recovery time after PE, lunch, assembly or transport;
what happens the next morning;
whether the school day is sustainable.

These should not be treated as rewards.

They are access tools.

A child who can leave before meltdown, eat somewhere quieter, avoid the worst corridor crush, use a toilet safely, wear tolerable clothing, or signal distress without speaking may be more able to stay in education.

That is prevention.

A note about reduced timetables and phased returns

Sometimes a reduced timetable or phased return is suggested.

This may help in some cases.

But it should not become a way of quietly reducing education without solving the access problem.

A reduced timetable should not be used simply to make attendance figures easier or to move the problem out of school.

It should be:

recorded;
time-limited;
reviewed;
linked to support;
focused on increasing sustainable access where possible;
clear about what education is being provided;
clear about who is responsible;
clear about how the child’s wellbeing and learning are being monitored.

Parents can ask:

What is the purpose of the reduced timetable?
What support is being put in place during the reduction?
What is the plan for review?
How will learning be maintained?
How will the child’s wellbeing be monitored?
What needs to change before hours increase?
Is this part of an IDP review or pastoral plan?
Has the local authority been involved if provision is no longer accessible?
Is the child being marked correctly?
Is the plan lawful, time-limited, recorded and reviewed?

A reduced timetable without support may simply move the distress home.

A phased return with proper planning, sensory adjustments, professional input and review may be part of a safer route back.

The difference is the plan.

When to seek professional input

Different professionals may be relevant depending on the pattern.

Parents may need to ask about:

Occupational Therapy where sensory regulation, daily living, school access, movement, safety, routines or self-care are affected;
Speech and Language Therapy where communication, understanding, explaining distress, eating, drinking or swallowing are concerns;
school nursing where toileting, eating, sleep, anxiety, hygiene, puberty, health or signposting is relevant;
GP or paediatrics where pain, illness, fatigue, sleep, eating, development or wider health concerns are present;
CAMHS or mental health support where anxiety, panic, depression, self-harm, trauma or serious emotional distress are concerns;
optometry or orthoptics where visual fatigue, glare, copying, tracking, headaches or eye teaming may be involved;
audiology where sound tolerance, hearing or listening in noise needs checking;
physiotherapy where pain, balance, movement, falls or physical function are concerns;
social care or local authority OT where home safety, care routines, supervision, adaptations or carer strain are significant.

The question is not:

Which service can we blame this on?

It is:

Who is best placed to help us understand the pattern and reduce the barrier?

When school says “this is attendance, not ALN”

Parents may sometimes be told:

This is an attendance issue.

That may be partly true.

But if the child’s non-attendance is linked to sensory barriers, anxiety, masking, health needs, communication difficulties, unmet learning needs or an inaccessible environment, it may also be an ALN, wellbeing, disability or safeguarding-of-access issue.

A useful response is:

I understand attendance needs to be addressed. I am asking that we also look at why my child cannot attend or access school consistently, including sensory needs, health, anxiety, ALN, bullying, environment and support.

Parents can also ask:

If school believes this is not ALN, please can you explain what evidence has been considered and what support will be put in place to make attendance possible?

If a family disagrees with an ALN decision, our guide on how to challenge an ALN decision in Wales may be useful.

When EOTAS or alternative provision is being discussed

Most attendance difficulties should first lead to better understanding and support.

But sometimes a child’s current placement has broken down or is no longer accessible.

In those cases, parents may hear words such as alternative provision, EOTAS, managed move, tuition, online learning, bespoke package or placement change.

It is important to be clear about the question being asked.

Is the child temporarily struggling to attend an otherwise suitable placement?

Or is the current placement no longer able to meet the child’s needs?

Is the child electively home educated because the parent freely chose that route?

Or is the child at home because suitable education or ALP has not been secured?

Those are not the same situation.

Our introductory guide to EOTAS in Wales may help families understand some of the language.

The key point for this article is simple:

If sensory needs, anxiety, attendance difficulty and placement breakdown are all escalating, the question should not be limited to “how do we make the child attend?” It should also be “is the current provision accessible and suitable?”

Avoiding parent blame

When attendance breaks down, parents often feel judged.

They may hear:

“You need to be firmer.”
“They are choosing not to come.”
“You are allowing avoidance.”
“They are fine when they get here.”
“This is anxiety, not ALN.”
“You need consequences.”
“They just need to push through.”
“This is a parenting issue.”

Sometimes routines and boundaries matter.

But they are not the whole answer if the child cannot access the environment safely, consistently or without serious distress.

Pressure without understanding can make things worse.

It can increase shame.

It can damage trust.

It can make the child more frightened of school.

It can make parents feel unsafe asking for help.

A better question is:

What is this child finding hard to access, what pattern are we seeing, and what support would make attendance safer and more sustainable?

This is not about excusing unsafe behaviour or ignoring attendance duties.

It is about understanding whether unmet needs are contributing to non-attendance before the situation escalates further.

The role of LWL peer support

The Learn Without Limits CIC parent-carer community cannot replace professional advice, clinical assessment, statutory duties or legal advice.

But peer support can help parents feel less alone while they work out what questions to ask.

Families across Wales often share examples of:

what helped attendance become possible again;
what wording helped with school;
what adjustments made a difference;
what professionals were useful;
how they recorded patterns;
how they approached IDP reviews;
what to ask before attendance enforcement escalates;
how to stay calm when the system feels frightening.

This Wales-wide reach matters because practice varies.

It also matters that some parents in the community are themselves neurodivergent. Sometimes an adult with lived experience can explain a sensory issue in a way that a child or young person may not yet have the vocabulary, confidence or emotional energy to describe.

Peer support does not replace professional input.

But it can help parents recognise patterns sooner, ask better questions and avoid feeling isolated.

No parent should feel they are navigating this alone.

Key message for parents

If your child is struggling to attend school, you are not wrong to ask why.

If sensory needs may be part of the picture, you are not wrong to ask school to look at the environment, not just the register.

Attendance matters.

But access matters too.

A child cannot attend sustainably if the environment repeatedly overwhelms, frightens, exhausts or dysregulates them.

The most useful question is not only:

How do we get this child into school?

It is:

What is making school hard to access, and what support would make attendance safer, calmer and more sustainable?

That is the prevention question.

It is also the question that can stop families being pushed from worry, to absence, to blame, to enforcement, to placement breakdown without anyone ever properly asking what the child could not access in the first place.

The next article in this series will look in more detail at how sensory needs should be described in ALP and IDPs, so support is not left vague or dependent on goodwill.

References

[1] Learn Without Limits CIC, “What Are Sensory Needs, and Why Do They Matter in the ALN System?” Accessed: May 2026. URL: https://blog.learnwithoutlimitscic.org/what-are-sensory-needs-aln-system/

[2] Learn Without Limits CIC, “How Do I Ask for a Sensory, OT or Related Assessment in Wales?” Accessed: May 2026. URL: https://blog.learnwithoutlimitscic.org/sensory-ot-assessment-wales/

[3] Learn Without Limits CIC, “How Do Sensory Needs Show Up in Nursery and Early Years?” Accessed: May 2026. URL: https://blog.learnwithoutlimitscic.org/sensory-needs-nursery-early-years/

[4] Learn Without Limits CIC, “Sensory Needs in Primary School: What Parents in Wales Need to Notice, Record and Ask For.” Accessed: May 2026. URL: https://blog.learnwithoutlimitscic.org/sensory-needs-primary-school-wales/

[5] Learn Without Limits CIC, “Sensory Needs in Secondary School: Why Things Can Intensify in Years 7 to 11.” Accessed: May 2026. URL: https://blog.learnwithoutlimitscic.org/sensory-needs-secondary-school-wales/

[6] Learn Without Limits CIC, “Attendance warnings, fines and prosecution in Wales: what parents need to know.” Accessed: May 2026. URL: https://blog.learnwithoutlimitscic.org/2026/01/attendance-warnings-fines-and.html

[7] Learn Without Limits CIC, “IDP Series: What Makes a Good IDP Review?” Accessed: May 2026. URL: https://blog.learnwithoutlimitscic.org/2025/11/idp-series-what-makes-good-idp-review.html

[8] National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, “Autism spectrum disorder in under 19s: support and management,” Clinical guideline CG170. Accessed: May 2026. URL: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg170/chapter/recommendations

[9] Welsh Government, “Additional learning needs (ALN): decision-making and communication.” Accessed: May 2026. URL: https://www.gov.wales/additional-learning-needs-aln-decision-making-and-communication-html

[10] Welsh Government, “A guide for parents about rights under the additional learning needs (ALN) system.” Accessed: May 2026. URL: https://www.gov.wales/guide-parents-about-rights-under-additional-learning-needs-aln-system-html

[11] Royal College of Occupational Therapists, “Using sensory integration therapy, sensory-based interventions and sensory approaches with children and young people,” Informed View, Mar. 2026. Accessed: May 2026. URL: https://www.rcot.co.uk/sites/default/files/2026-03/RCOT_Guidance%20-%20Using%20sensory%20integration%20therapy%20with%20children%20and%20young%20people%20-%20March%202026_0.pdf

[12] Learn Without Limits CIC, “How to Challenge an ALN Decision in Wales.” Accessed: May 2026. URL: https://blog.learnwithoutlimitscic.org/2026/03/challenge-aln-decision-wales

[13] Learn Without Limits CIC, “EOTAS in Wales: Part 1.” Accessed: May 2026. URL: https://blog.learnwithoutlimitscic.org/2025/12/eotas-in-wales-part-1

[14] Welsh Government, “School uniform and appearance: policy guidance for governing bodies.” Accessed: May 2026. URL: https://www.gov.wales/school-uniform-and-appearance-policy-guidance-governing-bodies-wg23-17-html

[15] Welsh Government, “Healthy eating in schools.” Accessed: May 2026. URL: https://www.gov.wales/healthy-eating-schools-html